Mystery of the Self-Loathing Loud
by TakeBackTheFalls
Summary: When Lincoln finds a note on the floor that alludes to the fact one of his sisters is depressed or suicidal, he begins an investigation to find out who wrote it. [REVIEWS CONTAIN SPOILERS, READ AT RISK]
1. Discovery of an Unpleasant Note

**AN: Hey guys! I'll try to keep the author's note brief since I tend to ramble.**

 **This is going to be a mystery fanfiction! I really love the mystery genre because it really gives the reader an opportunity to really think as they read and try to solve the mystery on their own. I decided I need a mystery fic. I wrote one mystery fanfic in 2015, it was a Glee one and it was terrible so I deleted it before I could finish. Hopefully that won't happen again.**

 **When Lincoln finds a note on the floor that alludes to the fact that one of his sisters is depressed or suicidal, he begins an investigation to find out who wrote it to potentially save a life.**

* * *

"Hey Lisa, do you think you can give me a lethal injection?"

Luan clipped Lisa's heels as the latter walked to the kitchen. Lincoln, who was sitting on the kitchen counter, raised his eyebrow at Luan's uncharacteristically morbid request as he scooped PB out of the jar with his booger-picking-finger. The comedian had gone through a torturous day at school from the vague details he had overheard. She wouldn't go into specifics when asked, but her mood had darkened quite a bit ever since she had come home from school.

After making her way to the fridge, Lisa faced the gloomy teen. "If you are currently being facetious, please inform me. I am usually unable to identify the difference, and often treat sarcasm literally," the genius opened up to the fridge, where she had been refrigerating her chemicals.

Luan gave her a nervous chuckle as she leaned against the wall, rubbing the back of her head, "It's just a joke. Why?" She then frowned, "Would you actually inject me if I had asked?"

Lisa tapped her chin with a green pen, as if she was actually considering it.

Luan crossed her arms, "Wow, that's cold."

"Oh poppycock," Lisa scoffed, "I'm messing with you," Lisa collected what she needed from the refrigerator and made her way out, "For a 'comedian,' you sure do lack the ability to identify a joke." The toddler went up the stairs without another word, leaving a forlorn Luan with her little brother.

Lincoln gave the comedian a look of concern, "You okay, Luan?"

Luan sighed, looking down at the flowers on her shoes, "Just some school drama."

Lincoln gave her a sympathetic frown, "I'm sorry. Whatever it is, you can talk to me about it."

Luan looked up, giving her brother a sheepish smile, "Thanks, Link, but I think I'll be okay. I'm just happy it's Friday," She cleared her throat, eager to change the subject, "Do we have any more pretzels?"

"Yeah, but you better not spill any! I just cleaned the kitchen floor!" He gestured towards the ground. It was true. On an average day at the Loud house, the Loud residents would have to walk over cheerios, spilt milk, broken glass, peanut butter, banana peels, and blood (fake) in order to even make it to the refrigerator. However, thanks to a little elbow grease and a tolerance to bad smells, Lincoln had successfully made the kitchen floor look spotless. And yet, no one seemed to notice his hard work unless he mentioned it. He knew that in a matter of time he would be knee deep in chips and pretzel wrappers all over again, but if it meant giving himself and his family comfort then it was completely wotrh it!

"Not bad," Luan whistled, "Your cleaning skills have _swept_ me off my feet!" She gave a half-hearted chuckle as Lincoln reached into the cabinet and took out a bag of pretzels, tossing them to her. After a parting wave, the comedian exited the room.

Nearly seconds after leaving, Luna entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Luna! What's up?" Lincoln greeted.

Luna tossed him a forced smile, "H-Hey, little bro. The floor looks rockin," Lincoln noticed that the rock-fan's shoulders were slumped, her eyes darting side to side nervously as her trembling hands tried to open the fridge and grab a root beer. The eleven year old opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Luna hadn't revealed whether or not Sam had responded to her letter. And judging by the signs she was showing, Lincoln guessed she hadn't gotten a good response...

"How are you-" Before Lincoln could finish his question, Luna scurried away almost immediately, not nearly as chatty as Luan had been.

"Geez, Luan and Luna are _both_ down in the dumps." Lincoln marveled out loud with a mouth full of peanut butter.

After a few more scoops, his attention was caught by the second oldest sibling in the family. Her eyes were wide, like a deer in headlights, scanning the entire room as if in search of something.

"Hey, Leni. Didn't see you there," He greeted, hoping she wasn't in a bad mood too.

Leni froze in her steps, her frail frame shaking like a chihuaha. As she gazed at Lincoln, her face paled like she had seen a ghost.

"What's the matter?" Lincoln asked, startled by Leni's eerie nature.

Leni faltered, her mouth opening, then closing. Her eyes darted all over the room, her eyebrows scrunched up like she was trying to recollect her train of thought. Finally, she said, "I-I don't remember." The fashionista exhaled deeply as if she had just come up for air after being submerged. Scratching the back of her neck, she tilted her head, "I seriously don't remember." Leni put a finger to her chin, as if trying to think. Finally, she gave up and shrugged, "Bye, Lincoln! Also, since when did our kitchen have a floor?" The blonde skipped out of the room, impervious to the look Lincoln was giving her.

"I really hope I have no more visitors. Everyone's acting so weird..."

Against Lincoln's wishes, the twins made their way into the kitchen in the midst of an argument as usual. Lana paused her quarrel as she looked at the ground, "Aw, man. Lincoln, you cleaned the floors? No fair, it was way more fun before!"

At the sight of her brother, Lola cringed in disgust, "Ewww, Lincoln! Stop sticking your nasty fingers in our family peanut butter!"

Lana scoffed at her twin, "Oh, big deal. I do that all the time!"

Now it was Lincoln's turn to grimace. The thought of Lana's hands in the peanut butter made his stomach churn. Everyone knew the older twin wasn't a fan of hygiene. He placed the peanut butter on the counter, pushing it away from him in distaste.

"I'll take that!" Lana grabbed the PB and stuck her fist in it.

Lola rolled her eyes, "It's so hard being classy in a family full of pigs!" She stuck her chin up, grabbing a strawberry smoothie from the fridge and exiting with her other half, not bothering to even close the door.

Fortunately for them, Lynn and Lucy had walked their way into the kitchen. Lynn karate kicked the fridge door shut, scanning the counters frantically. "WHO TOOK THE JAR OF PEANUT BUTTER?" She asked, grinding her teeth as she marched into the living room to find the culprit. Lucy sighed, her book of poems underneath her arm. She reopened the fridge, pulling out a plastic container full of fake blood, and closing it.

"Hey, Lucy." Lincoln greeted.

Lucy grunted in response, before turning to walk away.

Lincoln shrugged and hopped off the kitchen counter, figuring it was about time he got a drink. He opened up the fridge, scanning the shelves for something to cure his thirst. As he made his way to the shelves on the door, he saw something peculiar on the floor.

"That's odd," He thought out loud, "I just cleaned this floor a few minutes ago," he sighed, "One of my sisters probably dropped it when they came in here."

He bent down to throw it away, when he noticed a few sentences were scribbled on to the paper, too small for Lincoln to read standing up. His curiosity now had a magnetic attraction to the note, and he reached down to grab it. Expecting it to be a reminder or one of Luan's jokes, Lincoln began to read what it said:

 _'I'm so tired._

 _Everything is falling apart, and I feel so helpless._

 _I'm tired of it._

 _I'm tired of being alive._

 _I'm tired of everything.'_

A pit formed in Lincoln's stomach that felt like it was eating him alive from the inside. From Lori to Lily, every Loud child had spent their lives in the midst of chaos. No day was ordinary, every waking moment came with excitement and catastrophe. It may have been difficult, not everyone was meant to live in a full house. But never had it ever crossed Lincoln's mind that someone in this household was unhappy. Even Lucy, who had a gloomy exterior, was thought to have loved her life by her older brother. So as he read this note, realization hit him like a truck. One of his sisters had dropped this. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe it was on purpose as a cry for help. Either way, Lincoln knew exactly what he had to do.

"SENIOR SIBLING MEETING!" Lincoln called.

Almost immediately, Lynn somersaulted into the room.

Luna poked her head into the kitchen as well, "You're not qualified to call a senior sibling meeting," Luna informed him.

'Senior Sibling Meetings' were siblings meetings that excluded everyone under Lynn's age. The meetings were usually used by the five oldest to discuss important issues not suitable for anyone younger. Lincoln would've given _anything_ in the world to join the Senior Sibling Meetings, but whenever he requested an invitation they laughed at him. But the more Lincoln was pushed away, the more he craved becoming a member.

"Yeah, we're exclusive," Lynn folded her arms, "No shrimps allowed."

"Well, it's an emergency, and I don't think anyone younger than me will understand." Lincoln frantically countered, "It's urgent! So please please please hurry up!"

Luna and Lynn exchanged a look, before Lynn finally sighed. "Fine. But I'm gonna warn you, Lori will _not_ be happy."

Leni popped her head in, "Ooh, Lincoln's part of our club now? I don't know if he could handle our...you know...topics."

"Or my jokes," Luan emerged from behind Leni.

"Whatever," Lynn scoffed, "Let's just go up to the Queen of Mean's room and hope she doesn't bite our heads off."

Lincoln neatly folded the note and placed it in his pocket as the group made their way up the stairs. As they made their journey, knots formed in Lincoln's stomach. Was he an oblivious brother? The middle child usually thought of himself as very observant. He could read his sisters like a book and knew them like the back of his hand. Well, at least he thought he did. Lincoln took a deep breath, the least he could do was find out who wrote the note in order to make up for his aloofness. When they had reached the eldest's room, Lynn banged her fists on her door. "SENIOR SIBLING MEETING!" she informed Lori.

Lori opened up, eager to get to the chase "Make it quick, I'm going out with Bobby later." One by one four of her younger sisters walked in.

"You're going out? Don't you have a cross country meet to go to?" Luan asked.

"Don't _you_ have a puppet to shove your hand up?" Lori retorted.

Luan raised her hands up as if to surrender, before making her way to Leni's bed.

Lincoln, who was last to enter, was stopped immediately in his tracks, "Lincoln, get out," Lori snapped, "For the _millionth_ time, you're not a part of-"

"Let him in," Lynn said, "He was the one that called the Senior Sibling Meeting in the first place."

Lori raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "He's too young-"

"He said it was important," Luan interrupted, "I think we should let him talk," She gave Lincoln a soft smile. Lincoln returned it.

Lori's shoulders slumped, as if it pained her to say it, "Fine. Take it away Lincoln." She walked over to her bed and sat down beside Lynn. Leni sat on her own bed, accompanied by Luna and Luan.

Lincoln stood in the center, his brain faltering as he tried to find the best way to introduce the subject. Whenever he had anything to say at sibling meetings, he usually planned everything out ahead of time. Lincoln wished he had time to create a slideshow on the matter, but he called the meeting so suddenly. He was going to have to wing it, "So, I've gathered you all today because-"

"Oh my god, do you want puberty advice?" Lynn cut him off, laughing, "You're what, eleven? I'm pretty sure that's when puberty starts."

Lincoln rolled his eyes, "No, Lynn. Also, I'd appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me-"

"So, what part of your body is changing? Is your voice cracking?" Lynn disobeyed her brother's request, "Or is hair growing on your armpits? Pimples? Did you find hair on your-"

Lincoln's face flushed. "Guys!" He stomped his foot, gaining the full attention of his peers, "I'm not here to discuss my body."

"Then why are you reaching out to us?" Luna inquired.

Lincoln looked down at his pants pocket, seeing the dreaded note peaking out by the corner. His thoughts wrestled with themselves, conflicted on what to say. Should he drop a bomb on them like this? Was that fair? He exhaled, deciding to rip off the band aid right away, "I'm here to discuss a note a found in the kitchen, dropped by one of you." He pulled it out of his pocket, unfolded it, and read aloud:

" _'I'm so tired. Everything is falling apart, and I feel so helpless. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being alive. I'm tired of everything.'_ "

Leni gasped like she had just been stabbed, her eyes bulging out of her head. Wincing, everyone's eyes turned to her in concern. Leni's cheeks turned red and she buried her face in her knees.

"We have a sister that's clearly crying for help. We have to do something about it," Lincoln stated, " _'I'm tired of living.'_ That's a huge red flag! What if she's really hurting? What if she tries to kill herself? We have to do something before it's too late!" He waited for a chorus of gasps. He even expected somebody to faint. Nothing.

After a few moments of silence, Luna was the first to speak, "What makes you think it was one of us?"

Lincoln was a little irked at how unfazed she was about the situation, but answered her question anyways, "I cleaned the entire kitchen floor, scrubbed it till it SHINED! I know for a fact that there was nothing on there when I was done. So, when I gave myself peanut butter as an award, every single one of my sisters came in, expect for Lori and Lily. And once everyone left, I find this note!" He held up the piece of paper, "Which means one of the suspects dropped it while they were in the kitchen _minutes_ ago. Obviously this is a HUGE deal, and I suggest-"

Lynn blew a raspberry, which turned into an enormous fit of laughter. All eyes were on the athele, either with expressions of confusion or annoyance.

"Care to tell me what's so funny?" Lincoln asked, folding his arms.

Lynn wiped a joyful tear from under her eye, choking back her laughter, "Oh please, Mr. Dramatic! Obviously Lucy just lost a page in her dreary emo notebook," She cackled once more, holding a fist to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her giggles, "She's never been _serious_ about that kind of stuff. She probably just meant she didn't want to _'be alive'_ anymore because she wanted to be an undead vampire."

Lincoln frowned as he absorbed Lynn's theory. At first he was mortified. Of _course_ this was Lucy's, the eight year old was _always_ saying morbid things. His cheeks flushed as he realized he called this meeting for nothing, and Lynn's hysteric laughter was not helping to ease his embarrassment. Not only that, he called a senior sibling meeting for nothing but a wild goose chase. He had been waiting patiently to finally be old enough to be a member of the seniors, and this probably cost him his permanent spot. They'd never take him seriously ever again...

Then, his thoughts wandered to Lucy. Sure, she often said eerie things she didn't mean, but that did not mean she didn't need help. Lucy could still be feeling hopeless, and as her big brother he was partially responsible for protecting her.

"Sure, it probably is Lucy's," Lincoln said, "But I think we should still be concerned about her. I'm going to go check on her. If it's serious, I'm not going to stand idly by."

"Yeah, tell her to stop being so dramatic about everything," Lynn pulled herself upwards and walked towards Lori and Leni's doorknob, "I care about Lucy, and if she _was_ feeling suicidal I wouldn't hesitate to help. But I know for a fact that her note is a bluff." She exited the room with a huff.

Lincoln sighed, "Meeting adjourned. I'm gonna go talk to Lucy, just in case," He used the hand the note was in to wave at his sisters, before following Lynn out the door. Luna and Luan clipped his heels, each going in different directions after stepping out of Lori and Leni's room.

* * *

"I didn't write this." Lucy sat at the edge of her bed, reading over the dreaded note in her hand.

"Lucy, you don't have to be embarrassed," Lincoln put a hand on her shoulder, trying to ignore the fact he was drowning in powerful black paint fumes, "This is a safe space. I can help you," The eleven year old gave her a soft smile. The thing was, he _needed_ Lucy to confess. If she was being honest about not writing the note, it meant one of his sisters was...he couldn't even let that possibility roam his thoughts. Besides, that would be just a worst case scenario. Worst case scenarios hardly ever took place.

Though Lincoln couldn't see it, the goth rolled her eyes. Sure, it didn't come as a surprise that people assumed she was suicidal, she might have even been asking for it. However, she figured Lincoln knew her better than that. She loved her family, and just because she loved darkness too didn't mean she was eager to end her own life. "What do you notice about this note?" Lucy handed it back to him, waiting for Lincoln to re-read it and give him an answer. She took his silence as confusion, and answered "It's written in _green_ ink. The only pens I have ever touched are in black or red ink."

A wave of nausea washed over Lincoln as he sank into Lucy's mattress. He tightened his grip on the note, wrinkling it in the process. Though it was hard to tell, Lucy gave him a sympathetic frown. She almost wished she had written it to ease Lincoln's nerves, and she almost said she did. However, her doing so wouldn't change the fact that someone in the house was feeling helpless, and would just draw attention away from them.

Lincoln's throat tightened, his mind torturing him with images of any of his sisters trying to...ugh. He couldn't stand the idea! "Luce? Do you have any suspicions as to who could've written this?" Lincoln inquired. He handed her the dreaded note, giving her a chance to look at potential clues.

Lucy skimmed the green writing, her brain scrolling through every possible name. "Maybe Lola. She's very dramatic."

If it weren't for the current situation, Lincoln would've laughed in her face. "Lola? Lucy, she's _six_. And the girl has quite an ego on her, she's too into herself to take her own life."

"I'm not saying she is suicidal. But she is dramatic. She might've written it as a _'boo hoo! I lost a beauty pageant, woe is me!'_ type of thing."

Lincoln scoffed, "She wouldn't threaten to commit suicide about that."

"Look at the note Lincoln," Lucy held it up to him, "It doesn't say anything about suicide. Whoever wrote this claims they're tired of life. Yes, while that is a possibility of being suicidal, it doesn't have to mean that it is. It can mean something completely different."

Lincoln opened his mouth to protest, but faltered when Lucy's words soaked in. It did make sense, in a way. And Lola was pretty dramatic. Just last week, she threatened to scoop out Lynn's eyes with a spoon for putting an empty carton of milk back in the fridge. She also threatened to run away more times than he could count, though she never went through with it.

"Thanks, Luce. I think I found my first suspect."


	2. Just A Bluff?

**So it turns out that September is Suicide Prevention Month!**

 **Happy Suicide Prevention Month to everyone, hopefully Lincoln can prevent one this month.**

 **Also, I wanted to thank you guys for your kind feedback. I'm going to be honest, I was EXTREMELY nervous to post this. I'm usually always nervous about posting stories (I can't be the only one that gets anxious over this,) but I was especially nervous because I had never written anything of this genre, or this topic. So I'm grateful towards those who liked my story, it absolutely gave me more confidence to continue. I loved reading your predictions, and I hope you guys continue to over analyze everything :D**

 **Those who are familiar with my stories know that I usually update every 7-10 days at least. However, I got so excited writing the first chapter that I began the second one before finishing the first. Because of this...you get an early update! Congratulations! Don't get used to it.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes, enjoy!**

* * *

Lincoln exited the Queen of Darkness' bedroom, making his way towards the Queen of Pink's. He sauntered down the hall with confidence, wishing he had a pair of sunglasses to whip out and put on his face. As he drew closer and closer to Lola's room, his walk got slower and slower and his boldness was substituted with apprehensiveness. His thoughts began to cloud with speculation. Was Lola old enough to understand such a grim topic?

Taking a deep breath, he decided it was best to at least ask her, just in case. No stone should be left unturned. Besides, even if Lola hadn't written the note, it was important for her to be educated on unpleasant matters. Or maybe he didn't have to to tell her all the graphic details. All he had to do was inquire whether or not she wrote it. A simple yes or no question. Perfect.

Ready for action, Lincoln poked his head to the pageant queen's room.

The younger twin was throwing a tea party at a small plastic table, surrounded by various dollies and stuffed animals. Like she would've any other time she was hosting a tea party, her face was coated in layers of makeup, and she was decorated in an abundance of jewelry, most of which was Lori's. The latter didn't come as a shock to the eleven year old. Whenever there was jewelry lying around, it was bound to be snatched up by her pink gloves.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Lincoln Loud," she said in a sing-song voice. Her eyes didn't leave her tea cup, and yet she knew exactly who was at her door.

"Lola, I need to ask you something," he tried to sound as confident and fearless as he could.

"Why do you sound so nervous?" Lola inquired, a taunting smile traced upon her lips. She poured tea for herself, making a _'psssssh'_ sound with her mouth to imitate the liquid pouring. She then repeated the action for each of her toys sitting around her. Lincoln remained in the doorway, unsure of whether or not he should enter. Finally, Lola spoke "What are you waiting for, a kiss on the cheek? Sit."

With Lola's permission, Lincoln walked to the only empty seat at her tiny table, directly across from her. He squeezed his butt into one of her miniature chairs.

"We're having a tea party," She gave her brother an eerie smile. Lola held out her tea pot towards him. The eleven year old extended his cup, letting Lola pour the non-existent substance.

"I'm doing an investigation," Lincoln began.

Lola raised an eyebrow, "Is this about Lana's pet raccoon?" she asked, "Because if it is, I did _not_ cause it to run away, no matter what she thinks. She shouldn't have even had a raccoon in the first place, they're like trashy pandas! You can't prove anything!"

"I'm not here about a raccoon!" Lincoln said impatiently, his apprehensiveness disappearing as he pulled the note out of his pocket, "I'm talking about this." He slammed it on the table and slid it to her. As she read it over he explained, "I need to figure out who wrote it, and a little raven told me it might've been you."

Lola read the note carefully, as if analyzing every word. She stayed silent for a moment, eventually making Lincoln very uncomfortable. After a few more minutes of Lola staring at the paper, Lincoln was wondering if she could actually read, or if Lola just pretending to read it. As Lincoln was about to ask if she was illiterate, Lola spoke "What do you see me as, some sort of drama queen?"

Lincoln raised an eyebrow at her.

Lola realized what she had said, "Don't answer that. The point is, I didn't write this." She looked her brother in the eyes, "Did you ask the Queen of Darkness and Despair? This seems to be more her style."

Lincoln nodded, "She already denied it. She doesn't write in green ink."

Lola gawked at him, "That's the _'evidence'_ you used to take her off the suspect list?" She shook her head slowly with dismay, "Geez, you are the worst detective ever. She could've been lying, y'know."

Lincoln scrunched up his eyebrows. He normally couldn't trust Lola as far as he could throw her, but she _did_ have a good point. Would Lucy really go behind his back like...before Lincoln could even finish that thought, he remembered the toilet clogging incident.

Lola pursed her lips, clearly seeing her brother was in distress, "Alright, big bro. I'll take pity on you. I _think_ I might know who wrote that note."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow at her. What could Lola possibly know about detecting someone with depression? Still, he could take all the advice he could get. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, he asked "Who?"

"Lisa," Lola said the genius' name with her nose wrinkled in disgust.

Lincoln tilted his head, "Lisa? That makes no sense. She wouldn't write something like that, she thinks of herself too highly! And even if she did, she would've used bigger words that don't sound like they come from the English language. She-"

"Lincoln," Lola hissed, making the 'quiet coyote' symbol with her hand to shut him up, "I'm not saying she wants to kill herself!" She looked to the left, and then to the right like she was afraid of being watched, before leaning towards him and whispering "She's using this as an experiment."

"What do you mean?"

Lola poured herself some more steaming invisible tea, "Remember that time she hid Charles in the closet and told us he died just so she could take notes on our stages of grief?" When Lincoln nodded his head, she sipped the empty cup and continued, "She probably created a fake note, planted it in an obvious spot, and is testing how we'd react to it. You're her guinea pig, Lincoln. Don't fall for her traps!"

All of Lincoln's worry and fear evaporated as he considered Lola's theory. Lisa did do drastic things for her experiments, no one could deny that. Still, could she do something this intense? As Lincoln began brainstorming the odds of Lisa testing him, Lola's next words had his mind set. "I saw her writing with a _green pen_ today." Lola stated, stretching her pink gloves out and snapping them back in place.

Lincoln growled, his throat tightening. Anger festered in his now shaking frame, furious that Lisa would ever think about doing something like this.

"Thanks for your help," Lincoln said to the pageant queen. Through clenched teeth, he then murmured, "I need to give a little scientist a talking to." The eleven year olds retrieved the note and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

"YOU OWE ME!" Lola called after him.

Lincoln Loud marched towards the scientist's room, his clenched fists hanging by his sides. He was so infuriated, his mind couldn't process anything but blotches of red as he kicked open Lisa's door.

The genius' back was facing him as she wrote in her clipboard with a green pen, "Subject seems to be in distress,"

"AHA!" Lincoln yelled. He expected his shout to make the young girl jump, or at least gasp in surprise. Instead, Lisa just slowly turned around, her face unimpressed as she stuck the green pen in her hair.

The little genius looked up at him, looking rather irked at Lincoln's presence. "Lincoln, I assumed you contained the common knowledge to process that being in my lab is extremely perilous." Lisa lisped

Lincoln opened his mouth, but was absent for words. He scoured his brain, searching for something to say. Should he call her out right away, or build up the drama? Maybe he should say a pun. "Your pen is green," Lincoln finally said. He internally cringed, wishing he had chosen something cooler to say.

"Yes, it certainly is. Good job, Lincoln," Lisa rolled her eyes, her voice soaked with sarcasm.

Lincoln's jaw tightened at her condescending comment. He knew his younger sister was a genius and all, but being patronized by her tended to get under his skin. "I found this note in the kitchen after you left," he handed it to her, "It's written in green pen, the same color as the pen in your hair. So, I wanted to ask if you wrote it."

Lisa read over the note in a heartbeat, "What could have possibly made you assume I was the author of such a melancholy piece of writing? My vocabulary exceeds-"

"I'm not saying you're depressed," Lincoln snapped, _'you're far too into yourself to take your life'_ he added mentally, "If you planted this note to use our reactions for your stupid tests, it's not funny. I've put up with far too much of your insane experiments without uttering a word, but a fake note indicating suicide is taking things way too far!"

Lisa sighed, "Well, to answer your inquiry, I composed no such thing," Lincoln's shoulders slumped. Lisa using the note as a test would be an example of unscrupulous behavior, but at least it would've meant Lincoln had nothing to worry about. As he was about to leave, Lisa continued to speak, "I _wish_ I had concocted the idea myself, but I am elated someone has given me the perfect opportunity for new tests. Psychology plays an essential role in my studies, and testing someone with a mental illness is perfect practice! If you ever do uncover the culprit, inform me immediately."

Lincoln was dumbfounded at Lisa's insensitive comments. Sure, she could be a bit impervious to people's feelings, but this drew the line."You've got to be kidding me!" Lincoln growled. Lisa blinked, his outburst coming as unexpected to her, "Don't you care about anything but your chemicals? Someone in this house could actually be hurting, don't you feel bad?"

Lisa pulled her green pen out of her uneven hair and picked up a clipboard, "Subject seems to be prone to outbursts..." she scribbled her observations on her sheet, aloof towards Lincoln's disapproving glare.

He inhaled sharply, preparing to give a long speech about how shallow the four year old was behaving. However, before he could get a word out, he decided it wasn't worth it. If somebody was hurting, all his attention had to be devoted to finding out who. As he turned to leave, he bit at the scientist, "It really sucks that you view a sibling feeling suicidal as nothing but an excuse to do research." With those parting words, he exited Lisa's room, leaving her to soak in his words.

He sighed. It seemed he had reached a dead end in his investigation. After taking a few steps, Lincoln leaned against the wall next to the door of the closest bedroom, slowly sliding down to the floor. He assumed he would be able to unmask the author of the note before bedtime. But it seemed this would be harder than he thought.

 _"What's a good word that rhymes with despair?"_

Lincoln perked up at the monotone voice. He turned to his side, almost expecting Lucy magically appear right next to him. She wasn't there.

 _"That's an easy one. Bare...unaware...care..."_

The voices were coming from Lucy and Lynn's room. He pulled himself upwards, peaking his head inside their door.

Lucy was sitting at the edge of her bed. It looked like she hadn't even moved since Lincoln had last talked to her. Sitting on the bed across from the goth was Lori Loud. After noticing their brother's presence, the two paused their conversation.

Lincoln smiled, "Oh, hey guys" Because the two weren't on his suspect list (though he was no longer sure about Lucy) he felt he could safely confide in them about this mystery.

"Oh, you're back," Lucy observed. Lincoln couldn't tell if she was annoyed or elated by his presence, but decided to brush it off.

"I talked to Lola and Lisa about the note, and they both denied writing it," Lincoln updated.

"I'm sure you'll figure out who it is," Lucy encouraged him in a monotone voice, "Now if you don't mind, I was reading Lori my new poem. She's helping me."

Lincoln gawked, "Lori? _Helping_ you?"

"Don't look so shocked," Lori said "I'm going to be an English major when I go to college, so I thought I could give Lucy some pointers. It feels good helping to blossom the younger generation. The sooner the little ones know how important writing is-"

"Don't patronize me," Lucy warned her eldest sister. She then faced her eldest brother, "This piece was inspired by the note you found, Lincoln." The goth cleared her throat, lifting up her poem book and reading aloud:

 _"And when life fills me with despair_

 _And the universe just doesn't care_

 _I hug my knees and gently plead_

 _that someone rescues me from me"_

When Lucy concluded her poem, she earned a round of applause from Lori. The pale girl blushed slightly and looked down at her lap.

"That's great, Lucy," Lincoln said half-heartedly, "But I need help from both of you for my investigation."

"You can investigate tomorrow, after you go to bed," Lori said, "It's almost past your bedtime."

Lincoln deflated. Was it really that late? It couldn't be, Lincoln refused to believe it. The day had gone by too fast, and there was still so many people to question, "Lori, I know you're strict when it comes to bedtimes, but you _have_ to make an exception for me. I'm trying to do something important!"

"The most important thing for you to be doing right now is going to your room and changing into your pajamas, twerp." Lori snapped, quickly loosing her patience.

Lincoln glared at his eldest sister, not ready to back down, "Lori, I'm sure you could understand why I need to stay up. I need to continue my investigation, the sooner the better. Please!" He stuck out his bottom lip, giving his older sister puppy eyes.

Unfortunately, puppy eyes only ever worked on Leni. "Lincoln, if you don't go to bed _right now_ , I will murder you a thousand times!" Lori shouted. But it wasn't until Lori grabbed one of Lynn's hockey sticks and raised it over her head that Lincoln took her seriously and dashed down the hall.

As he ran towards his room, his feet stopped as he heard the gentle strums of a ukulele coming from the musician's room. Luna Loud had instruments in an abundance, but one would usually find her playing an electric guitar. She rarely ever picked up her ukulele. When Lincoln had once asked why, she explained to him that ukuleles made such a gleeful sound, she only ever used it when she needed to be cheered up. The strumming continued, and Lincoln's protective instincts kicked in as he turned towards Luna's room. But not even after taking three steps, Lori's head emerged from Lucy's room, giving Lincoln a glare that made him shrink in his skin.

As he walked, Lincoln heard soft crying coming from behind the closed door of the two eldest Loud's sisters. He paused, facing the area of the terrible sound. Choked sobs were muffled behind the door, making Lincoln's chest tighten. Despite Lori's order, he walked over to the direction. He placed a hand on her doorknob. He winced at how cold it was, like he was touching a cube of ice.

"She's fine," Lori told him, her head still sticking out from Lucy's room, "She just needs privacy. Now go to bed."

Lincoln sighed, giving Leni's door a look of pity before trudging down the hall.

 ** _DRIBBLE DRIBBLE DRIBBLE DRIBBLE_**

Lincoln's ears perked up at the sound. He turned around, finding the one and only Lynn Loud Jr., dribbling a basketball as she jogged down the hallway.

"Hey, Lynn!" Lincoln called out to the athlete, "Lucy didn't write the note. Do you have a clue on who did?"

"YOUR MOM!" Lynn answered, dashing past her brother as she dribbled through her legs.

"Oh yeah? Jokes on you! Our mother is _not_ on the suspect list," Lincoln shouted back. He marched into his room, the sound of Luna's ukulele growing fainter and fainter. Lori may have deterred his interrogation, but she couldn't hinder his brainstorming. Lincoln reached under his bed, pulling out a large piece of presentation paper and taping it to the wall.

Grabbing a thick black marker from his dresser, Lincoln listed the names of everyone that had been in the kitchen after he had cleaned the floors, titling the list: _'SUSPECTS'_

 _'Leni_

 _Luna_

 _Luan_

 _Lynn_

 _Lucy_

 _Lana_

 _Lola_

 _Lisa'_

Next to Lola's name, he wrote _'Most likely not.'_ Lola may not have had an alibi, but she seemed to be telling the truth. Next to Lisa's name, he wrote _'Just doesn't seem to care,'_ a bad taste forming in his mouth as he scribbled the words.

His marker hovered over Lynn's name, eager to simply say 'Nope.' However, he faltered. She _was_ quick to point the finger at Lucy now that Lincoln thought about it. And he recalled the athlete had left the meeting immediately, possibly before anyone could really question her. He decided to write _'Maybe'_ next to her name, and a star reminding him to investigate her.

He elevated his marker to Luna and Luan's names. The two were alarmingly gloomier than their usual selves, one of them even asking for a lethal injection. Luan clearly had some unknown trauma going on at school, he knew that for certain. But, could something at school really make Luan debate taking her own life?

Then there was Luna, who hadn't said more than a few sentences all day. She had been uncharacteristically reclusive since returning from school, something Lincoln couldn't let be ignored. He was not positive, but his suspicions lingered upon the fact that her sadness had something to do with Sam. He put a star big enough to be next to both their names, they were _defiantly_ worth checking out.

Lincoln then focused his attention towards the eldest suspect, the lovable Leni Loud. She had been acting quite strange in the kitchen, like she was in search of something. But...this was _Leni_ for Pete's sake. She could've been acting that way over a hangnail. Plus, when Lincoln asked, she claimed she didn't remember and skipped away. Lincoln drew a question mark next to her name and moved on the the mud-loving six year old.

While Lana was at the crime scene at the right time to have dropped the note, she didn't strike Lincoln as a suspect. Nothing backed up Lana being suicidal, it just didn't make sense. Still, he didn't want to ignore her completely, so he wrote _'Most likely not'_ next to her name.

He almost put his marker down and called it a night, when he saw Lucy's name unmarked. He had written her name by autopilot. He raised his marker to cross out her name, when he suddenly faltered.

 _'That's the 'evidence' you used to take her off the suspect list? Geez, you are the worst detective ever. She could've been lying, y'know.'_ Lola's words echoed in Lincoln's head.

Lincoln frowned, lowering his marker to his side. Was a green pen really enough evidence to take Lucy off the suspect list completely? Lucy fibbing to stay under the radar wasn't impossible. As Lincoln's mind lingered to the incident of the Princess Pony Book, it reminded him that Lucy defiantly possessed the ability to lie without a second thought.

As he raised his marker to leave a short comment besides Lucy's name, his door slammed open, sending him on his butt.

After recovering from the fall, Lincoln looked up to find Luan Loud, flanked by his door frame. She was carrying Mr. Coconuts under her wing, her hand not up it's back like it usually was. Her hair was no longer tied up, leaving her caramel colored locks to fall slightly passed her shoulders.

Lincoln almost snapped at her for not knocking, but decided to go easy on her out of pity. "Hey Luan, here to tell a joke?"

Luan's frown deepened, "Actually, I came here to drop off Mr. Coconuts," she held her wooden puppet up to him, "Not for keeps, of course. Just for the next few days. I have to focus on studying for this exam, and he'll just distract me. And God knows I have enough distractions already." She tossed the puppet at him, surprising Lincoln by her carelessness with her prized possession as he caught it.

"Uh, thanks. I'll just place him down here," He shoved the puppet under his bed, without even earning a protest from the comedian. Weird.

"Well, goodnight." Before Lincoln could ask any questions, Luan closed the door behind her, swinging his suspect list back into his sight.

Lincoln sighed, back flopping onto his mattress. He knew he was doing his best at trying to solve this mystery. Yet, he felt he was doing something wrong. Lincoln traced back to when he confided in his eldest sisters about the note. Lynn laughed in his face, telling him Lucy was the culprit. When he confronted Lucy, he remembered the pale girl telling him Lola could've written it. That sent him to Lola, who led him to Lisa...

"That's it!" He jolted upwards, "This entire day, I've been relying on my sisters to give me ideas on who could've done this." He stood up and walked over to his dresser, pulling open the top drawer and taking out his laptop. He bounced back on his bed, opening up his laptop. It came to him like a bolt of lightning. Lincoln realized his previous tactic would have him walking in an endless circle. He couldn't just ask his sisters 'who do you think did it?' Although their theories could potentially help, it couldn't carry the entire case. If he was going to solve this mystery..."I'm going to have to go by my own instincts." He opened up his laptop and furiously typed into the search key

 _'Symptoms of being suicidal'_

He clicked on a random page which welcomed him with a list of symptoms.

"Irregular eating habits, moodiness, sudden outbursts, sleep problems," Lincoln read off the list, searching for a quality he could find in his sisters. 'Moodiness' fell under the category for quite a few of them, he needed something more specific. "Out of character behavior...Changes in appearance, giving away possessions..." he paused. _'Giving away possessions.'_ Lincoln looked under his bed, finding Mr. Coconuts staring back at him.

His eyes widened.

"I'm gonna have to go after her," He rose from his bed, when he suddenly remembered Lori's threat. Not wanting to risk loosing more time by in more trouble by Lori, Lincoln decided "Tomorrow."


	3. A Slap In the Face

**AN: Sorry if this seems a little rushed. A lot is happening in this chapter and I just got so excited writing it!**

 **My apologizes for any typos you may find. But in a way, isn't life a typo? Think about it.**

 **Also warning: An F bomb will be dropped. It will only be once, and it will be the first and last time it's said in this story, so if you're not a fan of swearing don't worry it's just a quicky and then it's over'**

* * *

After a short, dreamless night, Lincoln was released from his slumber and welcomed to the first day of the weekend.

On a normal Saturday morning, Lincoln would take his sweet ol' time getting ready. He'd lay on his bed for a few minutes and let the warm sun heat up his face as he went over the previous day in his head.

But today, he shot out of bed like a bullet, putting on his usual clothes faster than anyone could imagine and bursting out the door.

After Luan gave Lincoln Mr. Coconuts the previous night, Lincoln was absolutely convinced something was wrong with her.

Lincoln marched down the hall until he reached Luan and Luna's room. As he raised his fist to knock, Lincoln heard a pair of soft snores coming from behind their closed doors. Lincoln lowered his fist, not wanting to feel the wrath of the pair by waking them up. Besides, he could just as easily talk to her later after breakfast.

He strolled down the hallway, mentally scripting the conversation he'd have with with Luan. First, he'd start out really casual by asking her if she thought the first moon landing was fake. After _that_ conversation got rolling, he would slowly lead the topic towards the mystery note without her even knowing it. Lincoln pat himself on the back, congratulating himself on his perfect plan.

As he reached the staircase, a series of screams erupted from Leni and Lori's room, coming from the latter. The eldest was yelling frantically, almost as if she was frightened rather than mad. Lincoln paused in front of their respective room behind a closed door, curiosity getting the best of him.

When it came to one-on-one sibling quarrels, Lincoln tried his best to steer clear of the drama. However, his feet didn't seem to want to move, as if his inner desire to eavesdrop was hindering his self control. Lincoln swore to himself that he would _never_ eavesdrop ever again, but it was easier said than done! Besides, it was just Lori and Leni, their fights were always petty. What was the worst that could happen?

 _SMACK_!

Lincoln gasped at the noise, involuntarily flinching.

 _Did Lori just slap Leni across the face?_ Lincoln let his jaw drop. He knew the tall blonde could be a little short tempered, everyone that ever crossed her path knew that. But slapping her sister, especially _Leni_? It was unbelievable...but not impossible.

It suddenly became eerily silent, causing a chill to travel up Lincoln's spine. He waited in front of their door in suspense, mentally counting down how long it'll take for the two girls to begin throwing glass and furniture at each other.

 _10...9...8..._

Suddenly he heard Leni say a few words, then Lori. Their voices were soft, so he tragically couldn't make out what they were saying.

Suddenly their door swung open, making Lincoln yelp.

"WHO, ME? I WASN'T EAVESDROPPING!" Lincoln squeaked, preparing to get slapped as well.

Lori dashed out of the room, pushing past Lincoln like he didn't even exist. She winced in pain, her palm cupping the side of her cheek as she ran down the stairs. Lori zoomed by so fast, it took Lincoln a second to take in what he saw. All he could catch was that she was covering up her cheek, which meant Lori didn't slap Leni. _Leni_ slapped _Lori_.

He nearly doubled over with shock. Lincoln just couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Leni-Wouldn't-Hurt-A-Fly-Loud slapping her sister across the face. It was without a doubt what he'd call "Out of Character Behavior," which Lincoln recalled to be a symptom of being suicidal.

Lincoln peered into the bedroom through the now-open door to evaluate the scene. Leni stood frozen, her face growing paler by the second until her pigment could be compared to Lucy's. Her electric blue eyes were red-rimmed and wide, staring in front of her as if Lori was still there. She was panting heavily, her eyes growing wider and wider. Finally, she collapsed onto her bed, erupting into tears.

"What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?" With her face buried in her pillow, her words were muffled, but audible enough to understand.

No longer having cold feet, Lincoln rushed over to the weeping girl, "Leni..." He was at a loss for words. What does one say to a girl that just slapped her roommate and is sobbing hysterically? He sat down on her bed, unsure of how to comfort her.

She rose her head upwards and sat upright, just realizing Lincoln was present. After letting a few loose tears fall, Leni began to blubber, "I-I totally messed everything up, Linky. A-And I did something r-really bad. It's all falling apart and I ruined-" Leni was now in hysterics, loud sobs rattling her body as she clasped her hands over her mouth. Lincoln sat there, drawing a blank on what to do, "I t-t-think I j-just did something terrible."

Lincoln faltered. He wanted to tell her that yes, she _did_ do something terrible. However, the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel worse.

As he opened his mouth to speak, suddenly a car horn began to honk repeatedly. Lincoln and Leni winced at the noise, the honking repeating over and over and over.

"Can someone turn off their car alarm? We're trying to have a moment," Lincoln hissed. And just like that, the car honking stopped.

After that rude interruption, Lincoln cleared his throat, "I'm gonna be honest, I never viewed you as a violent person," Lincoln admitted, still in awe of Leni's action. Learning that Leni had done something like this was like seeing a dog meow, it was unnatural and queer.

Leni sniffled, "I-I'm not violent, although v-violent is a beautiful color. I'm more of a pale peach kind o-of color. Lori is like that too, but s-she's a-alot more t-tan than I am. I always w-wished I was m-more tan..." her voice wavered as she spoke, occasionally pausing to sniffle and wipe away a few tears.

Usually this would be the part where Lincoln cut her off. He knew it was mean, but interrupting Leni was the only way anyone would ever stay on topic with her. However, this time, Lincoln just let her go off on a tangent. Maybe it was how heartbroken she was over hitting Lori, or maybe it was Lincoln's new suspicion of Leni writing the note. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he just had the feeling letting her talk would make her feel better.

"I shouldn't have slapped her, I really shouldn't have," Leni embraced herself, "It was a really bad thing to do. As soon as I did it, I wished I didn't. It was just that-"

Okay, _now_ was the time to cut her off.

He took a deep breath, slowly placing his warm hands on her back in an attempt to calm her down. "Leni, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you slap Lori?"

Leni sniffled, fanning her face with her hands as a way to compose herself. She sunk in her mattress, as if her guilt was weighing her down. Once she recollected herself, she spoke, "Well, last night when I fell asleep, I had a dream. I-I-n my dream, Lori did something really bad. She-"

"Wait a second," Lincoln removed his hands from Leni's back, using them to rub his temples in frustration, "You slapped Lori over something she did _in your dream_?"

Leni nodded frantically, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as her frame shook.

Lincoln looked at the invisible camera with irritation like he was on 'The Office.' The way Leni was bawling her eyes out, he had thought something _serious_ had happened.

Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose, "So, you're telling me that you threw a fit, because of a _dream_ you had?" He knew he had already asked that, but it was so unbelievable Lincoln just had to ask again to make sure he wasn't dreaming himself. When Leni nodded, he threw his hands up in the air and rose from her bed, "Okay, we're done here." Clearly this was a waste of time. He should've known better than to take someone like Leni Loud seriously...

As he began to walk away, Leni's head jerked upwards, "A-Also, I've been thinking about that sad note a lot lately." She admitted timidly. Although it was off topic, Lincoln spun around eagerly. Maybe she _did_ have some information. When he showed the forlorn girl he was listening, Leni's eyes began to glisten with sorrow, "Lincoln, I am just as nervous about that note as you are. Someone in this house is feeling so sad," she sighed, her voice laced with melancholy, "I wish everyone could just feel good."

Lincoln paused at the doorway, waiting for Leni to elaborate. However, the blonde said no more as she buried her face in her heads, regulating her breathing as she managed to recover. Taking this as Leni being finished, the eleven year old exited her bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Sure, his conversation with Leni wasn't exactly productive, although a conversation with Leni never was. Still, as he walked down the hallway, her words echoed in his head.

 _'I wish everyone could just feel good'_

He agreed whole-heartedly with Leni's wish, but unfortunately, that could never happen. Unless...he could _make_ it happen. He froze, an idea forming in his head.

"I just need to make everyone feel happy," He whispered to himself. His face morphed into a wide grin as he rubbed his hands together.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a ukulele strumming, the melody coming from Luna and Luan's room.

"They're awake," He observed aloud, "There's my cue." After taking a running start, he kicked open Luna and Luan's door, "GOOD MORNING MY BEAUTIFUL SISTERS! HOW YOU DOING THIS FINE MORNING?"

The comedian was laying in her respective bed, only lifting up her neck to steal a glance at Lincoln. Luna's body was sunken into a violet beanbag, ceasing her strumming in shock of Lincoln's arrival. The two were still in their pajamas, both looking overwhelmed with fatigue. Lincoln gave them a large stretchy smile that showed his gums.

"Lincoln, go away." Luan groaned, letting her head fall back on her pillow.

Lincoln gave a loud phony laugh, "Oh, Luan. You're hilarious! And pretty! And amazing! You're a flawless and fantastic person, and I hope you never change!"

Luna raised an eyebrow at her brother, "Are you feeling okay, bro?"

Lincoln doubled over in phony laughter, "'Okay'? I'm feeling super duper! I feel like I could run twenty miles and still have enough energy to sing to the rooftops. Why? Because you guys are my sisters. You're so great, both of you!"

"Maybe he has a fever," Luan guessed. The roommates shared a look of confusion, both concerned for their brother's well-being.

"I'm fine! I just want everyone to feel happy. I can't let anyone be sad. Being sad is just...sad," His eyes lit up, "In fact, being sad should be illegal!"

Luna rolled her eyes, "Cheers, mate. But, we already know you love us-"

"Well someone in this house clearly doesn't," Lincoln spread his arms out, "Which is why I'm giving everyone hugs!"

Luna stood up, growing uncomfortable with Lincoln's desire to please them. He was smiling like a mad-man, giving her the crazy eyes as he ran towards her, arms spread wide. Acting in the heat of the moment, Luna lifted her drumset over her head and threw it at him. The drum set send him flying out of their room and into the hallway.

"AND STAY OUT!" Luna called after him, slamming the door shut.

Lincoln groaned, pushing the drums off him and brushing himself off as he rose from the ground. He broke into a smile, figuring that Luna letting out her aggression towards him must've made her feel a _little_ better.

He moved onto Lynn and Lucy's rooms, swinging open the door and singing a loud "GOOD MORNING!"

Lucy was absent from her room, leaving only an irritated Lynn to jolt up from her sleep. "LINCOLN!" She growled.

"Hello my wonderful athlete!" Lincoln greeted, "You look lovely."

She did not look lovely. Due to just waking up, her frizzy hair was sticking out every which way. Lynn's hair-band had fallen out as she tossed an turned the night away, leaving her to look like she had a lion's mane.

Lynn gritted her teeth, "If one of you weirdos barges into my room one more time, I will slit my wrists and kill myself, just so I could come back as a ghost and HAUNT YOU FOREVER!" She began her sentence with a growl, but escalated her tone to a scream.

"Kill yourself?" Lincoln ran up to the athlete and sat on her bed, pulling her into an embrace, "You will do no such thing! I love you too much."

Lynn sighed. Lincoln could tell that she wanted to insult him, but would feel bad because he was being so nice...

"Lincoln, I was kidding," Lynn said more patiently, "And if you're worried about that note, whoever wrote it might not have been serious either."

"Better safe than sorry," Lincoln countered. He then scanned the room, "Do you happen to know where Lucy is? I need to shower her with my love."

Lynn chuckled, "If you ever tried to shower Lucy with your love, she'd stab you to death before you'd even know what's coming," she smirked at the thought of Lucy's reaction to her brother's form of affection, "I don't know where she is, but my guess would be that she's with Lori. Ever since Lori helped Lucy with her poems the other night, Lucy had been seeing her as her new muse. I guess she's just giddy that someone would willingly sit through her poems and like them," Lynn shrugged, "I guess they're both weird."

Lincoln smiled at her as a thank you, before crashing into Lola and Lana's room.

"HEY G-" The room was empty. He shrugged, figuring the two had just gone downstairs. That meant next was, he frowned, Lisa's room.

The two didn't exactly leave on good terms yesterday, making Lincoln uncertain of whether or not he wanted to spread his affections towards her. Though the more he thought about it, the more ridiculous he realized his grudge was. While Lisa was a genius, she was still only a four year old kid. It was pointless to hold be angry at her.

If he had held a grudge against any of his siblings, he'd be too busy being sour to ever bond with them. Even though he was still irked at her behavior yesterday, she still deserved love. So, Lincoln Loud entered her room with a big smile. "Morning, Lisa."

Lisa turned away from her studies, looking somewhat saddened by Lincoln's presence. She cleared her throat, looking down at her shoes bashfully, "Lincoln, I am elated to see you. I would like to state my apologizes for my erratic and insensitive behavior towards the grim situation you were facing."

"I forgive you," Lincoln said, without a moment of hesitation.

Lisa's face morphed into a smile, "To seek redemption, I want you to know that I am now your ally on this mission. If by any means you require my assistance in this case, inform me immediately."

Lincoln grinned, "Wow, thanks Lisa. I'm glad you realized your mistake. See you at breakfast."

He waved, running down the halls and sliding down the stair railing. He immediately saw Lola and Lana on the couch, fighting over the remote.

"Hey, ladies!" Lincoln chirped.

The two stopped their quarrel, "HEY LINCOLN!" They greeted back.

He gave the twins finger guns, "Just wanted to let you know, I love you both so much!"

Lana stuck her tongue out, "Eww, gross!" She snatched the remote from Lola's hands and switched the channel. However, Lola's attention had been shifted towards Lincoln. She ran up to him, giving him a giddy smile as she hugged his legs.

"Hey, Linky. How's your investigation?" She looked up at him.

Lincoln returned the smile, "Well, I haven't gotten very far yet. I'm planning on investigating Luan next. But in the meantime, I'm doing this thing where I'm really nice to everyone, so that people will feel less 'helpless' and stuff."

Lola frowned, "Are you sure that's gonna work? That note was pretty serious, and I don't think hugging them in the morning will cure that kind of sadness."

Lincoln pet the blonde's head like she was a dog, "Silly, silly Lola. My plan is perfect. You just don't understand."

Lola rolled her eyes, pulling away from the hug to join her twin on the couch.

Suddenly, the front door opened. Lori Loud entered the living room, her eyes on her shoes and her arms embracing her stomach. When Lincoln saw Lori run away after being slapped, he expected her to turn into a raging beast of fury. Instead, she just looked hurt.

Lucy followed behind her, "So, you got slapped. That must've released a lot of anger and aggression. Meet me in my room, we can take out your feelings and convert it into a poem." She then made her way to up the stairs before Lincoln had time to greet her.

He looked up at Lori, giving her a pitiful smile. After just getting slapped, Lori must've been in desperate need of his kindness.

"Hey, Lori!" Lincoln waved. "How are you this lovely morning? Can I just say that you look like a million bucks? I'm not kidding, you look absolutely FLAWLESS," Lincoln showered her in compliments, but Lori didn't even crack a smile. Realizing he had to work harder, he continued, "You are honestly SO pretty, and smart, and totally awesome! Also, by the way, I totally agree with Clyde when he says that your hair is so soft and shiny that you should be in a _Pantene_ commercial."

Lori stared down at him, her face absent of expression. "Lincoln, what the fuck?"

Lincoln's smile morphed into a glare as he gestured to Lola and Lana, who sitting on the couch right next to the teen as she dropped the f-bomb. Their eyes were wide open, jaws dropped as they stared at the seventeen year old. Lori didn't even spare them a glance, unapologetic of her use of the dreaded word.

"If you must know, what the bleep I'm doing," Lincoln's smile reappeared, "I just think everyone should feel good about themselves. So, I'm helping them," he spread his arms out wide, "You look like you could use a hug." He catapulted himself towards the seventeen year old, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist like an octopus, bringing her into the tightest embrace he had ever given anyone.

Lincoln turned his head around as he heard a pair of footsteps walk down the staircase. He turned around, finding the comedian strolling down, "Is that Ms. Luan Loud?" He smiled wildly at the brunette.

Luan widened her eyes in fear as Lincoln said her name, slowly walking backwards up the stairs before running away from him in a full sprint.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE MY LOVE, LUAN!" He zoomed up the stairs, catching up with Luan easily. He tackle hugged her, sending them both tumbling through the doors of Luan and Luna's room.

Luna was on the bottom bunk, gasping Loudly as Lincoln pounced on her younger sister.

"Have you gone crazy?" Luan asked, "'Cause if you are, that's totally awesome. But you should try to downgrade your craziness and only be mildly crazy."

Lincoln smiled at her, unraveling his arms from her torso, "Nope, I am perfectly sane. Just wanted to show my love for my siblings." He stuck out his index finger and tapped her nose gently.

"You're weird." Luan told him.

"Just doing it for a good cause," Lincoln said.

"Yeah, the note?" Luna spoke up. Luan and Lincoln both looked at her, surprised by her presence, but quickly getting over it.

"Nope, just to show my love. Besides, Lucy already confessed to writing the note as an empty threat," Lincoln lied. While he was aware Lynn, Lola, and Lori knew Lucy was innocent by him telling them, he decided last night that he should lead everyone to believe the case had been solved. If his sisters knew he was on an investigation, they'd try harder to be less suspicious when he was around. They were best to question when they were off-guard.

Luan scrunched her eyebrows at him, tilting her head. Lincoln studied her reaction to his fake news.

 _Maybe she's confused that Lucy would admit to something SHE DID!_ Lincoln thought, gasping internally, _QUICK, GIVE HER MORE HUGS!_

Lincoln wrapped his arms around her waist, only the have her push him off.

"Geez, Lincoln. Knock it off!" Luan bit at him, "Are you sure this isn't about the note? I _noted_ that you were acting strange today." Luan cracked a smile. Her joke may have been more feeble than usual, but her slowly drifting back to her old self was enough to keep Lincoln relieved.

"Yeah dude, you've been acting crazier than a Mick Swagger hater," Luna told him.

Lincoln took a deep breath, panic rising inside of him. How long was he going to keep this up? He couldn't just leave them in the dark. They were his sisters, not just suspects. "Fine. I was afraid that one of you two wrote the note I found," He looked at Luna, "You've been really depressed ever since you put Sam's note in her locker. It just wasn't like you, and it freaked me out. And then after you walk into the kitchen, a morbid note appears right on the kitchen floor. It worried me."

Luna looked stunned, her face growing pale as she took in what her brother had said.

He then turned to Luan, who looked as uncomfortable as Luan did, "But I'm not nearly as worried about Luna as I am about you, Luan. You ask Lisa for a lethal injection, you've been isolating yourself, and you gave me Mr. Coconuts. I read online that giving away possessions is a symptom of being suicidal. Lucy didn't write the note, but you two might've."

Luan bit her lip, looking down at her lap. "Geez, Lincoln. I'm really sorry I made you feel that way. But you shouldn't be scared."

"But I am!" Lincoln raised his voice, startling both of his sisters, "The possibility of one of my sisters committing suicide is not something to just brush off. When I read the note aloud at the senior sibling meeting, no one even seemed to care!" He glared at his sisters, "I thought we were all supposed to care for one another, but clearly we don't since I'm the only one taking action. Maybe...maybe the lack of concern we have for each other is the reason someone is feeling suicidal."

"Lincoln, of course we care!" Luna bit back, "How dare you accuse us of not caring? We all just show a different way of being nervous. Just because we didn't gasp or faint or jump off a cliff when you read that note, doesn't mean we cared less than you did. We've all been pretty bummed out since that meeting."

"You two were plenty bummed out before that, so excuse me for not noticing," He glared at Luna, "What's going on with you anyways? Why were you so bummed out, why were you playing your ukulele? And don't tell me it's about the note, because I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that!"

"Fine!" Luna snapped, "You want to know the truth? Sam doesn't like me!" She inhaled deeply, like just saying those words took her breath away, "She made that very clear in a way I'm not ready to share." The rock fan twiddled with her thumbs, taking another shaky breath as she continued, "B-But I'm okay. I'm not going to kill myself over that, Lincoln. I'll be _fine_."

While Lincoln had previously predicted Sam was the source of her sadness, he was still flabbergasted at the news. He suddenly became overwhelmed with guilt for making her say it out loud. Lincoln looked over at Luan. She didn't look fazed by the news, Luna had probably confided in the comedian with that information earlier.

"I'm sorry, Luna," Lincoln sympathized, "Is there anything I can do?"

"No." Luna ran her fingers through her bangs, "This is a problem I can solve on my own. But, thanks for being so concerned. You care about everyone, it's what makes you so endearing," She shot him a smile.

Lincoln returned it, before shifting her attention towards an awfully quiet comedian. Luan sunk under his stare, her eyes darting every which way nervously. "Lincoln, don't worry about me," Luan bit her lip, flustered, "I'm sorry I freaked you out. I was just in a really dark place yesterday, and I wasn't acting like myself. Whoever wrote the note will come up and and admit to doing it when they're ready," Luan smiled at him. Lincoln was a little disappointed she didn't open up as much as Luna did, but decided not to push her. Still, his curiosity was egging him on.

"Yeah. Plus, maybe it's not a suicide note. Maybe the way the dudette was feeling when she wrote the note was temporary, like Lori's 'My Chemical Romance' phase."

"I've heard that a lot, though," Lincoln grumbled, "And as much as I try to convince myself to believe it, I just can't."

Luan and Luna shared a look of pity, then looked down at their laps.

Lincoln shrugged, 'Oh well, guess I'll just go back to my investigation."

As Lincoln stood up, Luna held her hand out, "WAIT!" She gave him a wide grin. "We're gonna help you with your mystery, little dude." Luna gave her little brother a smirk.

Lincoln's eyes lit up, "Really? You'd do that?"

"Yep, we've be investi- _waiting_ to join you ever since the mystery started," Luan chuckled to herself, and Lincoln couldn't help but laugh along.

"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate-"

"Do you guys have any black nail polish?" Lucy's voice made her siblings all yelp, "I want to paint Lori's nails black so we she can embrace the darkness with me, but I ran out." The goth stood at the doorway, startling them all.

Lincoln stood up confidently, "Lucy, go get Lola," with Luan and Luna now joining his team, along with Lola and Lucy being his allies as well, they could now form an entire crew to help find out who the culprit was.

"Operation Band-Together-And-Form-An-Alliance-To-Figure-Out-Who-Wrote-This-Note-And -Think-Of-A-Shorter-Name-For-This-Operation is a go!"

* * *

 **Welp, looks like Lincoln no longer has to work on this alone.**

 **Just wanted to remind you guys that just because a Loud is in an "alliance" with Lincoln, doesn't mean they're innocent *wink wink* I think I have something in my eye.**


	4. Mystery Team

**Hi, welcome back! I don't really have much to say, but I'll make it quick. Sorry if Lori and Lucy seem pretty random in this story, but I feel like they'd have an interesting bond in real life, and I wanted to explore it.**

 **So Lincoln seemed to have constructed himself a team. Let's see how this goes.**

* * *

Lucy frowned deeper than she already was. All she wanted was some nail polish blacker than her soul, and now Lincoln was dragging her into one of his dumb 'operations.'

Lincoln's face stretched into a grin, "Lucy, Luan, Luna, meet me in my room for a meeting. But first, go get Lola and maybe Lana if she wants to come."

"Sure thing, brah."

"Okay, Stinkcoln."

"No."

"Excellent! If everyone agrees, I'll go get..." he paused, realizing there was a refusal in his symphony of agreement, "Wait, who said no?"

"I did," Lucy said.

Lincoln's face morphed into a glare. He had assumed Lucy actually cared about finding out who wrote the note, and just showed it in a different way. But he supposed Lucy couldn't be Lucy without stabbing him in the back during a mystery.

"Why not? This is important." He tried to sound patient, but he could still hear the bitterness laced in his words.

Lucy looked down at her shoes, "I'm going to hang out with Lori."

Lincoln scoffed, "Lucy, that's a pretty trivial reason for not wanting to come. Can't you just do it later?"

Lucy took a deep breath, slowly looking up at her brother until they were facing bangs-to-eye. "Lincoln, for my entire life I've never had someone to hang out with that willingly likes what I like. I always had to force you guys to listen to my poems, and you all got really annoyed with me whenever I was myself," Lucy glared at each of them individually, "But, now Lori actually wants to spend time with me. She even told me she always thought my darkness was cool. Not only does she listen to my poems, she helps write them," She gave a quick exhale, like even she couldn't believe what she was saying, "I actually got one of my sisters to like the things I like, and I'm not going to take advantage of it. I finally have an older sister who's actually cool."

"HEY!" Luan and Luna shouted, crossing their arms.

"You know what I mean," Lucy said, "Now, do you guys have black nail polish or not?"

The older trio standing before her each shared troubled looks. Lincoln narrowed his eyes, as if to say _'This is ridiculous.'_ Luan just looked down at her shoes, like Lucy's speech stunned her. Luna, however, was the only one that seemed to understand. She walked over to her drawers, pulling out some black nail polish and tossing it to her.

"Here you go lil' dudette, knock yourself out. If one of my siblings became as pysched about Rock 'N Roll as I was, I wouldn't take advantage of it either," Luna gave her a small smile, which Lucy responded to with a nod as she walked away.

Lincoln sighed, guilt tugging at his sleeve. He couldn't blame Lucy for wanting to spend quality time with her sister. Lori was about to go to college, there wasn't much time left.

"Girls, grab the twins," Lincoln ordered, "It's time to meet in my room."

Luan and Luna saluted him, running downstairs to capture the twins on the couch.

Lincoln walked into his room, hiding his poster of suspects under the bed. He didn't need the girls to see all the comments he made about them. He had to let some of his investigation remain secret. While waiting for the twins, he changed out of his pajamas and put on his normal attire, deciding he wanted to look presentable so his siblings would take him seriously.

Suddenly, he heard a pair of screams coming closer and closer to his room, until Luna and Luan kicked his door open, one twin in each of their arms.

"PUT ME DOWN, LUNA!" Lola screamed. She was draped over the rock star's shoulder, slamming her fists against Luna's back. Luna gave a little smirk, before dropping her on her face. The diva of the family pulled her face out of the floor, hissing threats to her older sister.

Luan was holding Lana like an infant, which the latter didn't seem to mind. She hopped onto the floor, burping loudly before greeting Lincoln with a nod.

Lincoln smiled, "Hello, team! I decided that I can't solve this mystery alone. So, I've gathered you all-"

"Wait, what?" Lana asked.

Lincoln sighed, "Oh yeah, you don't know." He bent down on one knee to get on the same level as the six year old, "Well, one of our sisters wrote this note, and we need to find out who." he pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to her, letting her read it.

As Lana looked at the note, before scoffing and giving it back to him, "It's Lucy, case closed."

Lincoln sighed, putting the note on his dresser "Actually, I asked Lucy if it was her, and she said no. This note is serious."

As Lana took in his words, her pupils widened, her bottom lip beginning to quiver. "S-S-S-So...you mean...s-s-s-someone WANTS TO KILL THEMSELVES!" She fell backwards on her butt, bursting into to tears like Lily whenever she wanted attention.

Luan sighed, scooping up the older twin. She sat on Lincoln's bed, placing Lana on her lap as she bawled. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," she whispered. The comedian bounced her knees, turning Lana's bawling into giggles and small sniffles as she recovered.

With Lana's fit was over, Lincoln cleared his throat, "So, we need to figure out who could've done this. Lori and Lily didn't enter the kitchen when the note was dropped, Lucy doesn't write in green, Lola-"

"Woah woah woah!" Lola held her hands up, "Why are we ruling out Lucy? She's _clearly_ hiding something."

"She's got a point, dude," Luna said, "She was so eager to get out of this meeting. Plus, why would she want to hang with Lori?"

"I've actually seen Lori and Lucy hang out yesterday, and she mentioned something about Lori before we even invited her in the first place," Lincoln said matter-o-factly, "Besides, I don't think Lucy really did it. Also, you guys need to stop interrupting-"

"Why? Because it was written in green pen?" Lola scoffed, "Is that what you call evidence?"

Lana widened her eyes and turned to her sister, "Wait, he seriously ruled Lucy out just because of a green pen?"

Lola nodded, "Yeah, he's crazy. He also thought-"

"I'm right here!" Lincoln barked at the gossiping twins, "Besides, _I'm_ the head detective. You're not supposed to be making fun of me."

"Would you like some cheese with that whine?" Luan asked, giggling until Lincoln's glare sent her sinking backwards.

"Well, Leni was in waterworks all night," Luna pointed out, "That could mean something."

Lola smirked, always excited for an opportunity to gossip, " _I_ heard that she slapped Lori in the face."

Everyone sans Lincoln and Lola gasped at the news, each chattering like birds.

"The sound of a slap woke me up, but I didn't know it was Leni!" Luna said, in awe. She put her hands to her cheeks, "Tell me more, lil' dudette."

Lola motioned her audience to lean towards her, obviously enjoying the attention, "Well, a little birdie told me it was because Lori thought Leni was seeing Bobby behind her back, so Lori blew up at her. And then Leni slapped her silly."

The eleven year rolled groaned in exasperation at Lola's lie, "A 'little birdie' told you _nothing_ ," Lincoln bit, "Leni told me that she slapped her because of a dream she had."

His siblings looked at him, each giving him an expression of confusion.

"Dude, that makes no sense," Luna said.

Lincoln blinked, "Y-Yes it does. She told me."

"Yeah, _told_ you," Luan said, raising an eyebrow, "You really think that makes it true?"

"This is Leni we're talking about, she's a little too...erm...simple to lie." Lincoln scratched the back of his head, suddenly unsure of his own claim. Yes, Leni was a little ditzy, anyone that ever met her could tell him that. But was she too ditzy to lie?

"Why is Leni slapping Lori a clue?" Lana asked.

Lincoln sighed, "Because 'sudden outbursts' and 'out of character behaviors' are symptoms of someone being suicidal." The twins gasped, each giving each other a worried look.

Luna, reading Lincoln's conflicted expression, spoke up, "Maybe you should find out both sides of the story."

Lincoln looked up at her, his eyebrows drawn towards each other, "What do you mean?"

"You should ask _Lori_ about the slap," Luna explained, "If you wanna know the full scoop, you gotta hear it from everyone's POV."

Lincoln blinked, his eyes widening, "That's...a great idea."

Luna pat herself on the back.

"Okay, I've got to go talk to Lori immediately!" Lincoln reached under his bed to look for a stack of papers, when he suddenly saw Mr. Coconuts staring back at him. A knot in his stomach began to form as the puppet stared at him. _'Giving away prized possessions is a symptom of suicide'_ A voice echoed in Lincoln's head. _'Luna explained exactly why she was in such a bad mood yesterday. Luan just avoided the question.'_ He began to wonder if bringing Luan in was a mistake. What if she came just to avoid being seen as suspicious?

"Uh, Lincoln. Why is your head under the bed?" Luan asked.

Lincoln jolted out of his trance, "Sorry, just looking for something." He pulled out a stack of papers and rose up. "I've printed out Suicide Hotline numbers," He held up twenty one of them, splitting the pile in two between Luna and Luan, "I want you to slide four under each bedroom door."

Accepting the stack of papers, Luna asked, "Including the 'rents?"

"Negative," Lincoln pointed out towards the hallway, "NOW GO GO GO!"

Luan and Luna saluted with their free hands, before marching out the door to obey Lincoln's orders. Lincoln closed the door behind them.

"Good, they're gone," Lana sighed, relieved, "Now I can finally say that Luna totally did it!"

"Nuh-uh!" Lola said, "It was Luan!"

"Luna!"

"Luan!"

"Luna!"

"Luan!"

The two wrestled on his bed, pulling each other's hair and biting.

"STOP!" Lincoln yelled, pulling the two off of each other. Lola and Lana glared at him with fiery eyes. Lincoln leaned into them both, whispering, "I like your instincts. Now, don't tell Luna and Luan, but I want you two to be in charge of investigating _them_."

Lana and Lola exchanged sly smiles. "Can we spy on them?" Lola asked.

Lincoln nodded, "We have to do anything we can to make sure we find out who did this as soon as possible. Now GO GO GO!"

Lola giggled with glee, "I'll put my wired tiara in their room!" She swung open the door, sauntering down the hall.

Lana scoffed, "I can check on them way better than Lola can." The six year old climbed on Lincoln's bed, hoisting herself up to the vents and crawling through them like Lucy would.

Lincoln put on a face of determination. He had sent his entire team on assignments, now it was his turn. Lincoln pulled a clipboard out from one of his drawers, and a pencil from another. He walked out of his room, walking towards Lori and Leni's until half way through he realized Lori in Lucy's room.

He sprinted into Lucy's room and turning on the lights, causing both girls to hiss. Lucy and Lori were on the former's bed, Lucy painting Lori's nails black. They both looked up at Lincoln with annoyance.

"Sigh. Lincoln I told you I didn't want to be a part of your-"

"I'm not here for you," Lincoln snapped, still annoyed at the goth for ditching the meeting, "I need to ask Lori some questions."

Lori tilted her head, "Wait...me?"

Lincoln nodded, "Yep. It's about Leni. And I figured since you're her roommate, you'd be an expert. Well, technically it was Luna's idea, but still."

Lori's shoulders slumped. "Make it quick," Lori said, "Lucy and I were going to tell our deepest darkest secrets to Grandma Harriet using her ouija board."

Lincoln's eyebrows drew towards each other, perplexed by Lori's desire to actually hang out with Lucy. Still, he brushed it aside, eager to prove Luan and Luna wrong.

"Lucy, you don't mind if I ask Lori a few questions, do you?" Lincoln asked.

"Knock yourself out," Lucy gave her permission.

Lincoln looked up at his older sister, "Lori, I know you're not going to want to hear this, but do you know why Leni slapped you?"

Lori clenched her jaw, trying her best to maintain her poker face. "I don't know."

Lincoln glared at her, she was not going to shoo him away that easily. "Lori, that's not helpful. Can I have specifics?"

Lori bit the inside of her cheek, looking up at the ceiling as if she expected the answer rain down on her. "I kind of deserved it," Lori shrugged, examining her newly polished nails like she couldn't care less about Lincoln's presence.

Lincoln pulled up his clipboard, readying his pencil, "Care to elaborate on that?"

Lori rolled her eyes, "I've been kind of a bad sister to her lately, to be brutally honest. I guess she just eventually snapped. She was stirring in her sleep like she was having a nightmare. I was starting to get worried, and yelled at her to get up. The moment she opened her eyes, she just stood up and...sl-" Lori faltered, as if admitting what happened out loud ruined shattered her pride, "She stood up and went crazy."

Lincoln scribbled _'Lori provoked Leni'_ on his clipboard. The idea didn't surprise him, but he had a feeling that wasn't the whole story. "How were you being a bad sister?"

Lori gave Lucy her left hand so she could put on another coat of black, "I think she thought I was being dismissive of her. She was trying to help me, but whenever she does that, she becomes a hover board and I push her away."

"You really think that's why she slapped you?"

Lori narrowed her eyes, visibly becoming increasingly annoyed, "Lincoln, I am only going to say one hundred more words to you about this."

"She just said fifteen words," Lucy said, "She only has eighty five left."

Lincoln began to panic, "Uhh...has Leni ever slapped you before?"

"Nope, now that I think about it, it was really weird," Lori admitted, "We would get into physical fights by wrestling like everyone else does, but those were never personal. This one was."

"Forty six words," Lucy updated, "Fifty four left."

Lincoln scribbled in his clipboard, "Did Leni seem fully awake when she slapped you? 'Cause I heard she had just woken up when it happened."

"Does Leni _ever_ seem fully awake to you?" Lori asked him, blowing on her nails.

"Fifty four words"

"Fair point," Lincoln said to the blonde, "Now, have you ever slapped her?"

Lori shook her head, "Of course not. Although now that she's slapped me, I might want to return the favor..."

"She has thirty more words left," Lucy said.

"Do you think Leni wrote the note?" Lincoln asked. For once, the seventeen year old was at a loss of words. She looked down at her knees, like the possibility had just crossed her mind. Lincoln could understand her pain, the two were very close, and knowing someone close to you was suicidal was a difficult thing to learn. Difficult was an understatement, it was _haunting_. He couldn't even imagine what Lori was thinking when he had said that.

With tears threatening to rise in her eyes, Lori demanded, "Get out."

Lincoln frowned, "No fair, you still have twenty eight words left."

"Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out." Lori said, her irritation rising with every word.

"That's one hundred." Lucy said.

Lincoln clenched his teeth, he almost shouted _'NO FAIR'_ and demanded she answer his questions. However, when he saw the pained look on her expression, he decided to leave her alone. If Leni _did_ write the note, it would defiantly give Lori some things to think over. Decided to let it be, turning around to leave. He found Luan and Luna sliding suicide hotlines under the door right across from Lucy's room.

"Girls," Lincoln said, getting Luna and Luan's attention, "The note is on my dresser, in case any of you need it for any reason." Luan and Luna gave him a thumbs up, before walking to the next door.

"Lincoln," a voice lisped behind him. The boy spun around, only to find the genius in a green sweater looking up at him with her enormous glasses.

"Oh, hey Lisa," he greeted.

"Save your salutations," Lisa crossed her arms, "I am aware you conducted a meeting about that note without inviting me."

Lincoln pulled on his collar nervously. It never occurred to him that Lisa actually wanted to be of use in this, he had just assumed she had offered her help just to be polite.

"Sorry-"

"Oh, hush!" Lisa snapped, "Just know that you will regret not having me on your team. I could be a valuable member, and you will fail without me!" She spun around, her fists clenched by her sides as she stormed down the hall and into her respective room.

Lincoln gulped, Lisa was not someone you'd want to make mad. Feeling apprehensive, he walked downstairs to get a drink as the mystery note sat unguarded on his bedroom dresser.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading blah blah sorry about the typos blah blah stay tuned!**


	5. A Few Outbursts

**Sorry about the late update, I've been having a difficult time finding some time to myself. With school comes stress I suppose. Thank you so much for waiting, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter. It's pretty dramatic, but this entire story is pretty dramatic so I guess it fits right in.**

 **Enjoy! Sorry for typos, I wanted to post as soon as possible.**

* * *

Lincoln made his way down the stairs, his gut throbbing in fear over Lisa's callous threat. He knew the genius had expressed an interest in helping in out, but Lincoln being cautious over it didn't seem to be threat-worthy. Lisa was difficult to trust, due to her history of secretly testing her siblings for experiments despite being ordered not to. Could he be blamed for not trusting her completely?

He made his way into the kitchen, internally praying no one drank the lemonade he hid behind the tomato sauce. When he took one step in, he found Leni Loud, and his jaw dropped at the sight of her.

The blonde was wearing no makeup, revealing bags under her red puffy eyes, and a few blemishes scattered upon her face. Not even lip gloss coated her thin lips, raising an enormous red flag in Lincoln's head. Leni _hardly_ ever made it past the barriers of her room without makeup on.

Either Leni had a secret twin, or something was _seriously_ wrong.

Leni paced the kitchen floor, the way she did moments before Lincoln found the dreaded note, murmuring to herself frantically and twitching from time-to-time.

Lincoln felt himself shudder. Leni's out of character behavior made him want to vomit. He needed to put a stop to it, "Hey, Leni!"

Leni froze abruptly, making Lincoln wince. She sunk her head lower to the ground, her hair now completely covering her face like a villain in a horror movie. Lincoln took a step back, his heart rapidly slamming against his ribs like a sugar-high Lana banging on a hammer.

"Linky," Leni lifted her head up slowly, her now slightly frizzy hair falling away from her face.

Lincoln rushed to her side in concern. He grabbed the ditz's arm, trying his best not to wince at how cold her skin was, "Leni, are you okay?"

Leni ignored the question, "Have you seen Lori? We need to talk," She ran her fingers through her hair, something she only did when nervous or guilty.

Lincoln's heart froze with sympathy. He had forgotten how terrible Leni had felt about slapping her roommate. He hoped Lori would forgive her quickly, Lincoln couldn't stand seeing Leni like this.

"She's _fanging_ out with Lucy," a voice behind them chuckled, "Get it?"

Leni and Lincoln's heads spun around, only to find Luan leaning against the kitchen door frame.

Lincoln frowned, "I don't get it."

Luan shrugged, "After you left, I heard them talking about how hot vampires were. ' _Fanging_ out.' Come on Lincoln, these are the jokes!" She walked over to the fridge, "We finished passing out those suicide hotline thingies. I even took some for myself, just in case."

Lincoln smiled, "Thanks."

The comedian's face morphed into a frown, "Is Leni feeling okay?"

Leni shook her hand rapidly, clutching her stomach, "There's a guilt-monster living in my tummy, and he's mean."

Luan, knowing Leni well enough to decode her language, rushed up to her, "Oh, Leni. It'll be okay. Lori might be mad right now, but she doesn't usually hold a grudge against you." She rubbed circles against her back as Lincoln squeezed her arm.

Leni gulped, "It's not just that I slapped her, I had no good reason. I don't know what came over me, it just happened. It was like my brain was being controlled by a small hamster with a Wii remote. I-I did something really bad-"

An electric shock zapped through Lincoln brain, prompting an idea, "I got it! I could have a meeting about the note, and during that meeting you can publicly apologize to Lori."

Leni gulped again, "I-I guess if we're in front of a lot of people, she can't hit me back." She forced a small smile, "I'm in."

Lincoln threw his head backwards, cupping his hands around his mouth before yelling " _ **SIBLING MEETING!"** _at the top of his lungs.

Luan released a nervous chuckle, "Uh, don't you mean Senior Sibling meeting?

Lincoln shrugged, "I pretty much told all the younger siblings about the note, there's no point shielding them from it now."

Leni gasped, "Hurry! I think someone's calling a sibling meeting!" She sprinted up the stairs like she was running a marathon.

After turning around to make sure Leni was gone, Luan looked back at Lincoln, "Link, _please_ just make this a senior sibling meeting."

"Weren't you listening? I already told all the kids. Plus, you didn't have a problem with Lola and Lana being part of this investigation. So why do you care?" Lincoln challenged.

Luan's cheeks flushed, before giving Lincoln a glare that could boil eggs and walking up the stairs.

Lincoln began to feel tense, what was her problem? What was the big deal with the younger kids joining? The more the merrier, right? He quickly jogged his way up the stairs, swinging himself into Lori's room.

Lola and Lana were already present, along with an anxious Leni, an irked Luan, and an unfazed Lisa. Lola and Lana skipped up to Lincoln, bright smiles on their faces.

"We found clues!" Lana and Lola said simultaneously. Lola was holding Luna's song book, and Lana had Luan's joke book under her wing.

"Great job, guys!" Lincoln ruffled their hair, making the twins giggle.

Luna was next to arrive. She sauntered into the room, a smug smile placed on her face until she noticed her song book in Lola's possession.

Luna gawked, "Dude, IS THAT MY SONGBOOK? GIVE IT BACK!" She charged towards the pageant queen, only to be intercepted by Lana holding her hand up to stop her.

"You lay a hand on her, and I promise you won't like the result," Lana growled at the musician.

Luna gave Lola a firey glare, "MY SONG BOOK IS PRIVATE, YOU ARE FORBIDDEN TO READ IT!"

"I already read it!" Lola fired back, "I'm using it as evidence against you in this investigation. Also, I'm telling mom you swear a lot in here!"

Luna's jaw dropped, "Wait...investigation? What do you mean?"

"You write about some pretty dark stuff, Luna, are you hiding anything?" Lola challenged.

Luna cheeks turned pink, becoming more flustered than furious, "W-What...who-you had no right t-to..why would you-"

Lola pointed at the albino, "Lincoln told me to."

Luna huffed and puffed like a drugged-up bull, her gaze slowly shifting towards a petrified Lincoln Loud.

"Luna, I'm gonna need you to calm down," he said, his words full of confidence, but his voice quivering in fear.

Without missing a beat, Luna hollered a battle cry that rang in everyone's ears, before charging at Lincoln like a rhino. Lincoln's brain told his legs to run, but this was the moment out of all moments his legs decided to go on strike.

It was Leni that saved him. She grabbed Luna by the arm, swinging her around in a full circle like she was weightless, before slamming her face-down onto the ground.

"Leave Linky alone!" She demanded, placing a foot on her back.

The entire room was stunned beyond belief, so engrossed in Leni's uncharacteristic outburst that their minds drew blank on anything to say. Even Lisa looked up from her clipboard to witness the catastrophe.

Lucy casually walked into the room. Not a moment after seeing Luna on the ground with Leni's foot on top of her, she turned around and walked away.

Luna sputtered, her brain scrambled from the beating, "I-I-I think I'm bleeding."

Lucy walked back into the room, "Did somebody say 'bleeding'?"

Lynn followed her in, "Aw man, did I miss a fight?"

Leni's face softened, her anger morphing into fear as she realized what she had done. "Oh no!" She quickly released Luna from under her foot, pulling her upwards. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry!"

Luna yanked her hands away from the ditz, "Screw you!" She looked back at everyone else, "Screw all of you! That book is my business, you had no right to steal it. If you guys are gonna go through my stuff, then there's no way I'm sitting through this dumb meeting. LUNA, OUT!" The rocker held up a peace sign as she marched out of the room, pushing past Lucy and Lynn.

A sheet of silence fell upon the room, each person present reflecting on what had just happened. Leni seemed the most shaken up, like she had went through hell and back. She looked down at her shaking hands, "Not again..." she whispered.

Lola was the only one who seemed unfazed, "Geez, and you guys call _me_ dramatic?"

Lisa hopped off Leni's bed, "I am actually present in this tedious and trivial conference to announce that I refuse to participate in these shenanigans."

Lincoln scrunched his eyebrows and tilted his head at Lisa's comment. "You're kidding! After you threw a big fit over not being invited to the investigation, and when I give you a chance to join, you say 'no'?"

Lisa nodded, "Your refusal to take me seriously has offended me immensely, and for that, you can no longer have my support."

"Then what was the point of showing up?" Luan asked.

Lisa smirked, "To rub it in your faces," The petite genius followed Luna's footsteps out the door.

Lincoln's shoulders slumped, "Alright, we have the twins, Lucy, Lynn, Luan, Leni. Now where's Lori?"

Lucy smirked, gesturing at the door, "Right there."

When the present Louds gazed over at Lucy's gesture, everyone sans the goth screamed bloody murder. Lola and Lana embraced each other in fear, each their screams increasing in volume as if they were competing over who could yell the loudest. Luan and Lynn both had their hands over their mouths, completely aghast at the sight before them. Lincoln backed into a wall, howling in fear with his eyes clenched shut. However, it was Leni that was screaming louder than anyone else. Her face had turned red, tears in the rims of her eyes. Lucy just grinned.

Lori was completely covered in blood.

The ends of her hair was dripping blood, her outfit was coated in red that continued to travel down her legs. Her expression was cold, like she herself was dead.

Lola fainted, falling into Lana's arms.

Lucy sighed, "Relax. She accidentally spilled my fake blood on her." However, her soft voice was useless against everyone's screams, so it was Lori that had to yell at them to shut up.

Once everyone was silent, Lori sighed, wiping fake blood off her cheeks, unaware the faux blood on her hands was making it worse. "Forget about the blood. Get it together and pay attention to whatever Lincoln has to say," She ordered her siblings. Everyone quickly snapped their heads towards Lincoln according to Lori's orders without hesitation. Lori was scary enough on her own, but Lori covered in blood was enough to make someone's skin crawl. Even Lola came out of her coma just to obey the eldest Loud.

Lincoln, still shaking, took a deep breath in an attempt to recover, "Thank you all for coming. Now it's about time we talk about the elephant in the room, the suicidal note. But first, I think Leni has something to say."

Everyone looked over at a stunned Leni. Her eyes were glazed, glimmering like stars as she gazed deep into Lori. Her mouth was slightly gaped, and she took small shaky breaths that increased speed after every exhale.

Lola rolled her eyes, impatient and eager to tear Luna apart with her evidence. She snapped her fingers in front of Leni's face, "Leni, get it together!"

This accomplished nothing, only now tears were swimming down her pale cheeks. Lori's eyes darted across the room, uncomfortable with the way Leni was staring her down.

"Leni?" Lynn spoke softly, reaching her hand out to her slightly, before retracting it.

Leni rose up effortlessly, whimpering to herself before running out of the room, wiping her sleeve under her eyes as she did so.

"Leni, come back!" Lincoln called, "Ugh, someone has to go after her!"

Luan snarled at Lori, "Nice going, Lori! If you had just forgiven her right away, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Oh sure, because everything always has to be my fault! Of course, why wouldn't it be? I'm just _suuuuch_ a terrible person that every bad thing that happens is because of me!" Lori muttered, giving a soft huff as she snapped her head towards the wall.

"I'll go make sure she's okay," Lucy said. She walked out of the room.

Lynn winced, "Lucy's not quite the type to cheer someone up. But at least we know it was obviously Leni!"

Lola rolled her eyes, "You can't be too sure! You guys haven't even listened to my flawless evidence that it was totally Luna."

As Lola opened up Luna's song book, Luan spoke up, "Maybe we should just respect her property."

Lola gave the comedian a firey gaze, "Why are you defending her? Do you know what she's hiding? If she wrote the note, then she defiantly told you about it, you two are closer than Lana and her smell. Maybe you're defending her SO WE DON'T FIND OUT HER SECRET!"

"Let's get to the point," Lynn begged.

Lola flipped through pages of the tattered violet notebook, until she made her way to a dog-eared page, "This song is literally titled _'Slit My Wrists!'_ Look at these lyrics. ' _She_ _goes through torture all her life, It's all a hit or miss, Don't wanna play this game called life, Just wants to slit her wrists!"_

Knots began to tie themselves in Lincoln's stomach, but before he could fully evaluate the lyrics Lori spoke up. "A lot of teens write about suicide without really meaning it." Lori defended the absent rock star, "Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions?"

Lola glared at the eldest, "Don't question me, you're the one covered in fake blood for no reason! Plus, you weren't there Lori, but didn't the rest of you see how _furious_ Luna got when she saw me with the book? That level of fury could only mean she's hiding something!"

Lana stood up, pushing Lola to the side "Alright, it's my turn!" She held Luan's joke book high in the air.

Luan gasped, "Who said you can touch that?"

Lana ignored the owner of the yellow notebook, "I spent minutes looking through this joke book. I didn't find anything funny, but I did find many disturbing things." She opened up the notebook, flipping to a page bookmarked by one of Lana's boogers.

"This one reads, _'Person A: Wanna hang?"_  
 _Person B: From a tree? Yes.'_ "

Everyone cringed at the joke. Luan buried her face in her hands.

Lynn raised an eyebrow at her, "Care to explain yourself?"

Luan sighed, her hands still in her face, "That was an old joke. I was trying out dark humor for the first time."

"Depression can stay with you for a very long time. Just because it's an old joke, doesn't mean those feelings aren't still with you," Lynn said.

"Lynn, don't act all innocent. I heard you say you wanted to throw yourself off a building because you lost your position as quarterback" Lori said. Immediately after she said it, she looked down at her lap, "Sorry."

Lynn made a 'psssh' sound, "It's just a thing I say! Doesn't mean I meant it, don't act like you've never been dramatic before. And why are we ignoring the fact that IT WAS OBVIOUSLY LENI?"

"No, it was Luan!" Lana shouted.

"No, Luna!" Her twin countered.

"QUIET!" Lincoln screamed, silencing everything around him, "Look at you guys. You're all yelling, fighting with each other over who wrote the note. It's like you're more concerned about your theories being right than anything else. Do you guys really want the person you think is suicidal to _actually_ be suicidal? Cause that's what it feeling like."

Luan's expression grew dark, "How _dare_ you say that? You come over here, accusing everyone of being shallow, when you've been doing the same thing." She bit, her voice laced with ice.

Lincoln glowered at her, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Luan scoffed, "Oh, maybe it's the fact that your " _investigation_ " is mostly just antagonizing your siblings! You made Lola and Lana go through our stuff without our permission. You saw how angry Luna was, and you didn't even care! You didn't even try to call it off after you knew it upset her."

"I can handle upsetting someone if it means saving a life!" Lincoln shot back at her.

Luan gave a mean spirited laugh, "Just face the facts! This entire investigation is nothing but another way to boost your enormous ego!"

That was the final blow. Lincoln's could feel lava run through his veins as his face burnt up. He wanted to continue the fight, but his loss of words and his rule to never cry in front of his siblings betrayed him. Before the flood gates could emerge, Lincoln pushed past the stubborn comedian, racing out of the room and slamming the door shut.

* * *

 **Once again, I'm really sorry for the late update and the inevitable typos. Hope you enjoyed! Got any theories on who the culprit might be?**


	6. After the Storm-Outs

**Sorry for the late update! I've had a lot going on and a lack of motivation. However, I will try to be more consistent in the future.**

 **Please enjoy!**

 **I'm sorry if this seems rushed, I was just eager to get this chapter out before the end of the month.**

* * *

After Luna and Leni's dramatic storm outs, the last person Lincoln thought would be next was himself.

Yet there he was, standing outside Lori's bedroom door, still huffing and puffing from his quarrel with Luan. The comedian had made hurtful allegations, claiming he was only conducting this investigation for the sake of his own 'enormous ego.' He scoffed as he recalled her words, snapping his eyes shut to keep tears from escaping.

All he wanted was to help someone. He wanted to find out who wrote the darn note, and get them the help they needed. He was just trying to be a good brother, but all Luan did was make him feel bad about it.

Although, he had to admit the way he came about it was quite strange. Did he really need to force two six year olds to ransack someone's room? But they did it willingly!

Lincoln brought his fingers to his throbbing temples, his conflicting thoughts giving him a headache. He knew a lot of Luan's anger was based upon how he let Lola steal Luna's song book without her permission. The two girls were close, it was obvious Luan would defend her at all costs. But still, her contempt seemed to also root from elsewhere. It like she was doing what Lori did with Bobby, where she'd pretend to be mad about one thing while actually being mad about something else.

Lincoln sighed. Girls were so confusing. Lincoln debated turning back around, walking through Lori's door and continuing the meeting like nothing had happened. All the remaining siblings were still in there, he could hear their muffled voices whisper behind the door.

His mind told him to step forth, but his feet stayed glued to the floor. There was something more important he had to do, something he had to do before anyone else.

He needed to locate Luna.

Lincoln ran his fingers through his snow-white hair and walked down the hall, his heart throbbing with guilt as he made it to Luna's room. He cracked her door open, immediately finding his target.

A head of fluffy dark hair was buried into Luan's pillow, supposedly too upset to climb up to her own bunk. Her face wasn't visible, but her body seemed to shake with fury.

Lincoln cleared his throat.

Luna raised her head up an inch over her pillow, just to see who was bothering her. When she saw Lincoln, she scowled.

"What do you want, thief?" Luna bit. She smashed her red face back into her pillow without missing a beat.

Lincoln frowned, guilt coursing through his veins. Maybe Luan was right, maybe he wasn't being considerate towards his other siblings. "Luna, I'm-"

"Shut up," Luna barked, her words were muffled in her pillow, but she said them so loudly Lincoln could still make it out. Lincoln winced, taken aback by Luna's harsh response. Luna snapped her head up, releasing it from the now mascara-stained pillow, Luan would not be happy about that.

"How would you like it if I told someone to steal something deeply personal of yours, and shared it with everyone?"

"I know, but-"

"No, you don't!" Luna snapped her face towards Lincoln, her puffy red-rimmed eyes staring into Lincoln's, "Lincoln, every single one of my deepest darkest secrets were in that book. That book was my life. Every good thing that's happened to me, I've written a song about. Every bad thing that's happened, I've written a song about too. And the worst, most soul crushing, mortifying, heartbreaking things that I've ever gone through are in that book too." Her eyes began to water again, causing Luna to turn her back to Lincoln once more and wipe her sleeve under her eyes.

Lincoln clenched his jaw, knitting his eyebrows towards each other. "Luna, don't act like you're the only one in this house that had their privacy invaded!" Luna widened her eyes, not expecting Lincoln to lash out at her. It was supposed to be the other way around. "I invaded your privacy, and I'm sorry! It was terrible of me, and I shouldn't have done it. I was so worried about figuring out this case, I didn't think about the people around me. I shouldn't have used Lana and Lola to do that for me, it was messed up! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. But don't forget that you guys go through my stuff all the time! I've always been an advocate of keeping things private, especially since everyone in this house has read through my journal at least twice! Lola probably over twenty!" Luna bowed her head, knowing she herself was no stranger to Lincoln's diary. Lincoln took a deep breath, his face flushed as he sped through his apology, "And now I made myself into a hypocrite, and I'll never do it ever again. But, and I know you're gonna hate this, we _need_ to talk about that song about slitting your wrists." Lincoln tilted his head at her, waiting for her to explain.

"But-"

"Luna, please," Lincoln cut her off, "I need to know if the things you put in that book were serious or not. I need to know you don't actually want to..." Lincoln's voice cracked at the last word, hot tears pooling at the rims of his eyes.

Luna sighed, "Dude, I write about a lot of new things. Suicide has been pretty trendy lately, and I just, I don't know. I'm...I'm still not sure how I feel. Maybe I did it because it was popular, maybe I did it because I could relate. The mental state isn't something you can easily crack."

Luna ran her fingers through her hair, "It's just so mortifying having all your secrets stolen from you and read aloud. I wrote a lot about suicide, I won't deny it. But I thought it was such a dope theme! And now everyone's worried about me! But dude, there's something seriously wrong with Leni!" Luna said, worry flashing in her eyes, "One look at Lori, and she spiraled out of control," The musician suddenly gasped, slapping her hands against her cheeks, "I'm such an idiot! What am I doing down here? I should've been checking on her! Is she alone? What if she ran out into the streets? When Leni gets upset, she totally-"

Lincoln swiftly slapped his hands onto her shoulders, "Luna, it's okay. Lucy went to check on her."

"How is that supposed to make me feel better? Lucy's so grim, she'd just make Leni feel even worse!" Luna slapped his hands off her shoulders and rushed out of her room, making a swift turn and slammed open Lucy's bedroom door.

Leni was sitting upright on Lucy's bed, her eyes widened as she stared at the goth girl in front of her. Lucy was standing before the ditzy blonde, caught mid-sentence as Luna opened the door.

"-or your hair dye will be slapped off your head." Lucy finished. Leni shrunk into her mattress, nodding her head furiously.

"What's going on?" Luna asked.

At the sight of the two, Lucy paused. The blonde and the black haired goth snapped their heads towards Luna and Lincoln, their eyes widened like they've been caught doing something wrong.

"Um, we were just..yeah. We had a haunting, yet interesting talk," Lucy rubbed the back of her neck.

Leni nodded her head, seemingly calmer than she had been earlier. A pair of dried up tear tracks laid plastered on her pale cheeks. Her face was not as flushed as it had been earlier, though her eyes were still red-rimmed. Yet, she managed to give Lincoln and Luna a small quivering smile.

"You okay, love?" Luna asked in the British accent she knew Leni loved so much.

Leni sighed, "Just wasn't feeling good in my heart or stomach or brain," her voice was barely above a whisper, yet she still tried to put on a fake smile.

"That doesn't sound 'okay' to me, dude," Luna commented. She walked over to Lucy's bed and put a hand on Leni's shoulder.

Lincoln was leaning on the door frame, not wanting to interrupt, but still curious as to where the conversation would go.

As he was getting comfortable, he felt himself get roughly pushed to the side by something colder than ice. He stumbled from the force, grabbing onto the door frame to keep from colliding with the ground. After regaining his balance, he looked up to see Lori's backside walk up to Lucy. She had clearly attempted to wash off the blood, as she had successfully minimized the effects. However, there were still stains of red splattered on her clothing and hands. Lori nudged Luna away as well to get to Lucy. "Is she-"

Lucy cut the eldest Loud off, "She's alright. I talked to her, and we defiantly made some progress."

Lori gave Lucy a firm nod, before switching her attention towards Leni. Leni looked down at her thin legs, still afraid to meet Lori's gaze. However, Lori held her reddened hand out to her. The ditz looked at the hand with curiosity, although still apprehensive.

"I won't bite," Lori assured her gently, "Let's come to my room, we are quite overdo for a talk."

"Wait a second," Luna held her hands up, "This doesn't feel right. I really think there's something wack going on with Leni."

Lori sighed like the rockstar was just a little kid, "Luna, I can handle this."

Luna frowned, "But, we still need answers!" Luna stared at the second eldest, "What's going on with you? Is everything okay? Did you write the note?"

Leni began to quiver under Luna's avalanche of questions, "I-I-I...it's...w-w-well, I-" tears started to pool up in her eyes.

"Leni, listen to me, okay?" Lori looked into her eyes, "You don't owe her anything. Don't feel pressured to tell them anything you don't want to tell them, okay?"

Luna shot daggers at her, her mouth opened slightly in awe, "What are you...Why are you shaping me out to be the bad guy? I'm just trying to help her!"

"No, you're trying to force her into something she isn't comfortable with. That'll just make things worse," Lori responded coolly, her eyes not leaving Leni.

Luna's jaw clenched, "Leni seriously needs help. If you cared about her, you'd be on my side! If she leaves this bottled inside of her it'll be wicked bad for her mental health."

Lincoln held his arm over Luna's chest, not wanting her fighting words to lead to something physical. The last thing he wanted was to see another fight.

Lori began to grow impatient, "Luna, let it be. I can handle this." She held Leni's hands once more. Lincoln noticed the latter's face twist into a cringe as Lori's icy, red hands touched her's, leaving a red handprint on her own.

Luna scoffed, "Really? 'Cause it seems to me like the closer she gets to you, the more stressed out she gets."

Lincoln noticed Lori tense up at Luna's allegation. He could see her jaw clench, her eyes narrow as her grip on Leni's hand seemed to tighten.

Lucy seemed to notice as well. "Lori, please" Lucy warned the eldest Loud. Luna did not need to get beaten up again.

Lori yanked the shaky ditz upwards, "Leni's coming with me." She tried to pull the younger blonde towards her. Leni kept her eyes to the ground, showing a slight bit of resistance as she stopped in place. Lori then released an inhuman growl, and grabbed the ditz by the hair. Leni yelped in pain. Her roommate yanked her by her blonde locks out of Lucy's bedroom slamming the door behind her.

Luna huffed, kicking the door in frustration, "Ugh, can you believe her?"

Lincoln frowned, looking down at his shoes, "You're not gonna like this, but I think I'm with Lori on this one," he flinched, expecting Luna to turn him into a human pretzel. "Leni and Lori are close, I think she's the best person to talk to her right now."

"But did you see how freaked out Leni acted whenever she saw Lori? Clearly she's doing something terrible to her that's causing this, she can't get away with that. I wouldn't be surprised if Lori was the one driving Leni into suicide!" Luna snapped.

"Luna Loud, that was a _disgusting_ thing to say," Lucy hissed, her words laced in ice.

Luna winced herself, realizing she worded her phrase in a rather cruel way, "I didn't mean it like _that_ , dude! It's just...let me rephrase. Lori might be a factor in Leni's weird behavior. Think about it, whenever Leni was even in the same room as Lori, she'd freak out. When she tried to talk directly to Lori, she had a panic attack and ran out! Did you see how Lori forcefully pulled Leni by the hair into her room?"

"She _was_ trying really hard to persuade Leni not to say anything," Lincoln said, his eyebrows drew together as he began to consider Luna's theory. Lucy gave Lincoln a dirty glare intercepted by her long bangs.

"Exactly!" Luna spread her arms out to emphasize her point, "She's totally abusing Leni somehow, whether it's mentally or physically. There's no way Leni slapped Lori for no reason, she must've done _something_ to deserve a slap from _Leni_."

Lucy scoffed, the noise attracting Lincoln and Lucy's attention. They looked down at her, both just remembering she'd been there the entire time.

The eight year old had her arms crossed, her mouth twisted into a scowl, "Oh please Luna, you got your bony butt handed to you by Leni not even fifteen minutes ago. Does that make you an abuser too?"

Luna rubbed her slightly redden arm, rug burn from Leni's attack, "Leni attacked me for a reason, and it was to protect Lincoln from me. If she had a reason to hit me, she totally had a reason to hit Lori. We just have to figure out what that reason was."

"You shouldn't pin the blame of Leni's behavior on one individual. Maybe we all had something to do with it, or maybe it's just her corrupt and darkened mental state," Lucy scolded the the teenager.

"Then how come the closer she is to Lori, the weirder she acts?" Luna challenged, "Lincoln agrees with me, right?"

Lincoln frowned, "Lori can be kind of mean sometimes..."

"But she's not the type to do things to Leni that could make her so panicky," Lucy argued.

"I guess that's true," Lincoln said.

"Geez Lincoln, make up your mind! Who's side are you on?" Luna shouted.

Lincoln held his arms up in the air, "Chill out! I don't know yet, just..." he looked at Luna, then back at Lucy. Two angry sisters, waiting for him to choose. "I need to take a walk." He swung open Lucy's door and walked out, hearing Luna and Lucy's exasperated groans echo behind him.

He speed-walked down the hall. His ideal destination was his bedroom, so he could clear his head and go over his list of suspects. However, he froze in front Lola and Lana's room. Something was rather off. For the first time in history, both girls were present, and it was completely silent. No bickering, no whining, not even small talk.

Lincoln did not blame them, the sibling meeting had been pretty awkward. The two were probably frightened for two reasons. Luna may have been Loud, but they'd never seen her scream so much, especially at them. Secondly, they still had not discovered who wrote the note.

Lincoln sighed, guilt coursing through his veins as he recalled Luna and Luan's insults.

Without knocking, Lincoln barged into their room. Lola and Lana were sitting on the latter's bed. They both looked up at Lincoln, neither saying a word. Not even Lola snapped at him for entering unannounced, making Lincoln feel uneasy.

"Girls," he walked towards Lana's bed. The two girls stared at him with glassy eyes, Lola's red rimmed and puffy. "I am so sorry for bringing you into this. It was unfair of me to ask you to go through Luna and Lana's things, I should've known better. And Lola," he put his hand on her lap, "I'm sorry Luna yelled at you for something I made you do. I'm sure you were very scared, and I just wanted you to know that Luna is not mad at you anymore." Lincoln knelt down before the bed and pulled the girls into an embrace. The twins graciously returned the hug.

"It's okay, Linky," Lana said.

"Yeah, it's not like you forced us against your will," Lola said, "We wanted to do it. We're just as guilty as you are."

"Thank you guys," Lincoln pulled out of the hug, "It means a lot. I don't know about Luan, but I promise Luna is cool with it."

Lana rubbed her arm, "Luan did not leave the meeting happy. After you stormed out, she left too. No one's seen her since."


	7. Two Lies and A Video

**Hey guys! Welcome back to this weirdly depressing story I decided to write!**

 **So a couple of you guys were a bit pissed off that Lori pulled on Leni's hair. I find it slightly amusing that no one in the comments said a thing about Luna throwing an entire drum set at Lincoln a few chapters ago, or that Leni slapped the living hell out of Lori in Chapter 2. Or that last chapter, Luna tried to pulverize Lincoln (and would have if it weren't for Leni saving him) which Luna hasn't apologized for. Yet the comments are complaining about Lori yanking Leni's hair... That's interesting to me.**

 **I know that a lot of LH fans favor Leni and Luna, so maybe their actions are more excused compared to Lori's or Luan's? I don't know. Of course I'm not saying Lori was in the right to pull her hair, but she's not the only character that did something violent this chapter.** **Wouldn't Luna be abusive too, even more so than Lori? Seems a bit unfair to me, but it's not the first time I've seen biases towards characters. It's not like hair pulling is anything new in the Loud House, whenever there's a dust cloud of the Loud's fighting there's always someone pulling someone's hair. I just don't get how Lori's actions were escalated more than Luna's. Oh well, it's not like it's a big deal.**

 **Anyways, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Sorry if you see any typos, I was rushing**

* * *

Lincoln couldn't help but feel bitterness at the mention of Luan's name. He was still yet to fully grasp her motive towards blowing up at Lincoln. Yes, he understood that some of it was to protect Luna, but part of her contempt seemed to root from elsewhere.

Lola scoffed at her twin, "Ugh, don't be so dramatic. You're acting like Luan's dead or something! Let's move onto something _way_ more important!" The pageant lover hopped off her bed and rushed to the door, slamming it behind her in case somebody was watching. Once she thought the cost was clear, she skipped back to Lana's bed and lifted up the mattress.

"So, I know you told us to only look through Luna and Luan's room," Lola said, as she pulled out a little green book from under the mattress.

"And we did," Lana assured him, "But..."

Lola opened the journal, "We may or may not have looked through Leni's stuff too, just in the heat of the moment."

"We just got excited!" Lana held her hands up like she was about to surrender, "We wanted to be awesome detectives, like you!"

"But it turns out, we're WAY better detectives than you will ever be. Honestly, I've been the one carrying this case the entire time," Lola flipped through the book, grinning.

Lincoln would've rolled his eyes at her snarky remark, but the little green journal had him wrapped around its bookmark. He _knew_ Luna would not be pleased about Lana and Lola getting their hands on another woman's private property. He had seen how upset she had gotten over it the last time. The last thing Lincoln wanted was to make her upset again, the less unhappy sisters, the better.

Yet, this was LENI'S journal! Leni had been a prime suspect since day one, this could answer his avalanche of questions about her involvement. Whether it could reveal her or debunk her being the culprit, the diary of a ditzy blonde would without a doubt be CRUCIAL to the investigation. And technically, Lincoln did not demand them to look into Leni's room. The twins did that on their own. Lincoln was not responsible for that, right? Still, Luna might not accept that excuse.

But Luna's anger aside, this mission was never about building up his ego like Luan claimed. It had always been about saving one of his sister's lives. This wasn't a case of a clogged toilet, it was a life or death situation. Lincoln found it absolutely heart wrenching and unacceptable that one of his sister's could be trapped in the prison of her own mental illness without him knowing. He knew depression could not be cured, but it _was_ treatable. It was up to him to stop his sister's from...

"Toss over the book," Lincoln ordered, his expression grim.

Lana and Lola shared a smirk, before Lola threw the book at him. Lincoln caught it perfectly. The book was small, no larger than an iPhone with thin white pages and a cover of emerald green. On the cover was 'LEN-E' written in sharpie, the incorrect spelling of the name making Lincoln cringe. The book was in good shape, despite being used, no torn pages or a tattered spine. It smelled like-

"Can you stop examining the details of the stupid journal and open it up already?" Lola asked, growing impatient.

Lincoln took a deep breath, and opened the first page full of green words.

 _'Omg, dis is the 1st pag of the book! Totes kewl! Im like totes gonna tell Lor-e bout dis. She haz a book she rites in 2, and now we r book twinz! Like L. and Lana! But not rlly. Jst book twinz._ _I read Lor-e's diary b4, it is just 'bout her talking 'bout Bobby being good, then Bobby being bad. Then bout her friends being good, then her friends being bad. I wonder wat ill rite 'bout_ _'_

Leni's giant handwriting took up two pages with those several sentences. Lincoln flipped to the next page.

 _'Halowen custume idea: a sexy baby'_

Lincoln gagged.

 _'Dn't think Lor-e would lik it tho. But I herd her say that she wanted 2 be a sexy cat. We culd sexy twinz! sexy cat + sexy baby = YAY!'_

 _'Lola was here'_ Was written underneath in sparkly pink pen. Lincoln looked up from the book to shoot a glare at Lola, before returning to the pages.

"I feel like I'm having a stroke," Lincoln said. He flipped to the next page.

 _'Lor-e was like, so mean to me today. She like, walked in and waz all like 'Blah blah blah blah Bobby blah blah' Like, ugggggh! Then when I asked her what was wrong, she told me to shut up and threw a pillow at me. I think she'z still mad cuz I showed her frends that picture of her when she was like 14. idk wat the big deel was, it's just a pic. I take pics all the time. Brb, gonna take some pics.'_

"You are the slowest reader EVER!" Lola groaned.

"Hey, lay off. It's hard to translate Leni's writing into English," Lana defended her brother.

Lincoln agreed with the pageant queen, he did want to hurry up. Feeling his brain cells kill themselves as he read her journal, he flipped to the last couple of pages.

 _'Linky is thinky bout da note.'_

The next several pages were littered with exclamation points varying in size.

 _'UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH'_

 _'THIS IS TOTES NOT COOL! I HIT MY SIS AND I CRYED! MY SIBLINGS WAS LOOKING AT ME LIKE I WAS A WEIRDO. !'_

The rest of the pages were blank. Lincoln closed the book, his heart felt like it was in his throat. He wished he never picked up the book in the first place.

Lana slid off the bed and walked up to her only brother, "So, do you understand the point?"

Lincoln nodded, "Leni did not write the note."

"Bingo!" Lola said, "There's no way Leni wrote it, she can barely write in English!"

Lincoln pulled out the dreaded note from his pocket. It had been a while since he read it, the words always left his stomach in knots. He bent down on the floor and placed the journal on the ground, the last page facing the ceiling. He put the note next to it on the ground, comparing the two.

 _'I'm so tired. Everything is falling apart, and I feel so helpless. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being alive. I'm tired of everything.'_

"Totes not in Leni's writing style," Lola bent down next to him, evaluating the two pieces of evidence herself.

"Yet they're both written in green," Lana pointed out.

"Green is a popular color," Lola explained, "Although it is inferior to the amazing pink!"

"Why has Leni been acting so weird then? She clearly did not do it, this journal explains it," Lincoln was still puzzled. Lola put a hand on her brother's shoulder, while Lana leaned his head on Lincoln's other one.

"Leni reacts to things in a more extreme way than other people," Lola tried to explain.

Lana nodded her head, "When we first saw _'The Emperor Strikes Back,_ ' when Leni found out Darth Vader was Luke's father, she went into shock for an entire month. She did not say a word for the next four weeks, she just stayed in her room all day."

"Best month of my life," Lola reminisced.

"The point is, maybe the news you gave of the note brought her into shock. And if she got over Darth Vader being Luke's father, then she'll get over this. Even if it takes some time," Lana nuzzled into Lincoln's neck.

Lola cleared her throat, "Also, I'm pretty sure-"

 _ **CRASH!**_

A loud noise came rattling from vents above the twins' room, making Lincoln jump. Lola and Lana both turned pale, exchanging a look that said a thousand words before scooping up Leni's journal and the dreaded note.

"What-" Lincoln tried to ask a question, but was interrupting by Lola throwing the book at him, bouncing it off his face and having it land in his hands.

"Shhhh!" Lola brought a finger to her lips, her eyes shining with fear, "You have to get out of here!" She turned her attention towards Lana, "I told you we should've turned on the Blarney the Dinosaur soundtrack so no one would eavesdrop!"

"It's too late now!" Lana harshly whispered. She folded up the note and placed it in Lincoln's pocket, "Now get out of here before it's too late!"

"What's going-" Lincoln tried to ask.

"Let's just say we made a few enemies throughout this investigation..." Lola rubbed the back of her neck.

"No time to explain! Get out! Hopefully she didn't hear much!" Lana barked. The twins pushed Lincoln out of the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving him with the journal and the note.

 _Was someone listening to us in the vents?_ Lincoln shuddered at the thought. What could Lola and Lana possibly have done to provoke someone to jeopardize them?

Either way, Lincoln felt unsettled. Throughout the investigation, Lincoln's fear had revolved around one of his sister's ending their life before he figured out who wrote the note. Now, he felt like he was prey, and that someone much smarter and more powerful than him was out to hunt him. If someone were to listen into his and the twins' meeting, who's to say they'd stop there? Who's to say they haven't been doing this since he first found the note?

He walked away from Lola and Lana's door, deciding it was best he put Leni's room. He extracted all the evidence he needed. Leni did not write the note, that was clear to him now. The twins were probably right, Leni was just shocked at the news that one of her sisters was 'tired of being alive.' There was nothing to worry about with her, and there was no use for the journal.

Holding the book against his chest, he walked down the hallway littered with sports equipment, makeup, and bat droppings towards Leni's bedroom. After a few steps, the bathroom door flew open, Lori emerging with a straightening iron in her hand. She straightened her hair, now falling to her mid-back, a bit longer than Leni's, all signs of small curls non existent. It was one of Lori's famous go-to styles for when she was about to go out. All the fake blood seemed to be washed off her body, yet her hands were still a faint shade of red.

Lincoln froze in his tracks, alarmed by the sound of the door slamming open. Unfortunately, the better option would have been for him to run for his life. As soon as Lori saw the boy, she immediately rushed over to him.

"Is that Leni's?" Lori asked, inches away from him, looking down at the book.

Lincoln winced, "Yes," he whispered, hoping Luna wouldn't overhear.

Lori groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand, "Lincoln, you have to cut it out!" She snatched the book out of his hand, "Leni is in a very tense situation right now, we all are. The last thing I want right now is Leni more upset than she already is, and the last thing you want is to make _me_ upset!"

Lincoln sighed, accepting defeat. He didn't need the journal, so there was no point in fighting the headstrong blonde for it back. He couldn't help but pick up on Lori's mentions of Leni. She seemed very concerned about her, which seemed like a good sign.

"Sorry," Lincoln said. He cleared his throat, "So...you and Leni are good now?"

Lori's face hardened as she shoved the journal in her pocket, "She's fine. We're fine. We had a rocky patch, especially since she slapped me in the face for no reason," she tried to raise her hand to her cheek, before realizing she was still holding a straightening iron in said hand, "But I think we're good. At least we're trying to be. We mostly talk at night, since she's having a hard time sleeping and I pretty much never sleep anyways. It's been better, don't worry about it."

Lincoln nodded his head, relief washing over him, "I'm glad to hear it."

Lori sighed, "I guess it's not so terrible. I feel like I've been a mess all weekend, we all have."

"Well, your hair looks nice!" Lincoln complimented. He knew discussing her would keep her mind off of things.

Lori's expression turned cold, "Lay off the flattery. It's not as straight as I want it to be, it's too frizzy in the back! Carol can pull of the straightened hair, and yet I can't! It's ridiculous! Bobby says-" she paused remembering Leni's journal, "I'm just gonna go give this back, and then take a nap." She spun around on her heels and walked towards her room.

"WAIT!" Lincoln called after her, making the eldest Loud freeze in her path.

Lori spun back around, her now straight-as-a-pencil hair swinging around her head, "What?"

Lincoln cleared his throat, guilt tugging at his heart strings, "How's Luan?"

Lori's shoulders slumped, giving a soft chuckle, "Yikes, I forgot she chewed you out at our meeting."

Lincoln blushed, "Just answer the question."

Lori sighed, "She's fine. We were just texting about it literally a few secs ago. She said she feels super bad about being mad and everything. Of course you can understand, especially because of what's happening to her at school."

Lincoln frowned, "What's happening to her at school?"

Lori scoffed, "You didn't know?" When Lincoln's perplexed expression answered her, she continued, "People in Luan's grade don't like her very much. They think she's annoying and unfunny and whatever. On Friday the bullying got really bad, so she's been a grump all day. But she's fine now."

Lincoln faltered, his heart dropping in his stomach. He had no idea. How did he have no idea? How did Lori have an idea, but not him? Was this a Senior Sibling secret or something?

Lori studied his upset look, "Lincoln, it's fine! She's fine."

Lincoln ran his fingers through his hair, "I should seriously go check on her."

"No need!" Lori assured, "She's off pranking Lisa's creepy cameras around the house." Lori gave Lincoln a smirk, before walking back into her bedroom.

Lincoln looked down at his shoes, his eyes growing wide as he re-evaluated what Lori told him. Cameras. Lisa...had cameras. Lincoln slapped himself in the forehead, Lisa had cameras? It wouldn't surprise him, she was always sneaking around and spying on her siblings with her weird studies. Cameras should have been the last thing from surprising.

Lincoln perked up, "She has cameras in the kitchen, doesn't she?" He said to himself. Filled with newfound hope, Lincoln spun around and rushed to the end of the hall. He sprinted towards Lisa's door, accidentally colliding into it.

Rubbing his now throbbing head, Lincoln knocked on Lisa's door with his free hand, "Lisa! Did you put up cameras in the kitchen?"

A scoff came from the other side of the door, "Well, well, well, look who decided to pay a visit?"

"Enough with the crap, Lisa, this is important." Lincoln banged his fist against the door. He didn't care if Lisa was still upset with him. He was going to get answers no matter what. For a second, Lisa did not say a word, as if contemplating whether or not to open up.

Finally, she spoke, "I am occupied with a new experiment. Shoo!"

Lincoln clenched his jaw, "Guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way!" The white-haired boy jumped up and down and shook his wrists, "You asked for this, by the way!" He took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and sprinted towards Lisa's door. As he was about to collide with it, Lincoln extended his leg. Before he knew it Lisa's door had been kicked onto the ground, with Lincoln laying on top of it. "Ow, I thought kicking down a door would be way more fun," He slowly rose up, "Sorry about your door."

Lisa, however, was not even listening. She was sitting on a spinny chair, her back towards her brother as she poured a drop of chemicals into a beaker.

"LISA!" Lincoln yelled, stomping his foot to get his attention.

Lisa turned around, rubbing her goggles to defog them "Did you say something?" She looked down at the floor, only to find her door was ripped off, "Did I make another explosion without realizing?"

Lincoln rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, yeah. I didn't kick it down or anything. Anyways, I need access to the cameras you put in the kitchen."

Lisa pulled her lab goggles off her head, and slipped off her stained lab coat, "I suppose there contains no mishap in such a harmless activity. Follow me, older sibling," She waved Lincoln over, her little legs walking over to her closet. Lincoln obeyed her orders, following the little genius.

Lisa opened the closet door, revealing a giant television screen of every room in the house sans the bedrooms.

Lincoln whistled with amazement, "Wow, no wonder you wear the same clothes every day."

Lisa sighed, "I would've placed cameras in each siblings respective rooms, but unfortunately the parental units insisted that doing so would be an 'invasion of privacy.'"

"Yeah, yeah, just rewind the kitchen tapes to Friday after school," Lincoln ordered.

Lisa gave him a quizzical look, "Why...wait a minute," she slapped herself in the forehead, "Oh, I am an ignoramus! This is about the suicidal slip of paper you acquired in the kitchen!" she jabbed Lincoln in the stomach with her tiny finger, "I have to admit, you almost tricked me into helping you, despite my succinct vow that I wouldn't. However, I suppose we can bury the hatchet, as the suspense of who scribed such a note is killing me."

Lincoln grinned, "I'm glad we're finally on the same page. Sorry if I hurt you feelings by not asking you to help earlier."

"I acquire no such 'feelings,' Lincoln," Lisa clicked on the screen, at the small box with the kitchen in it. As her finger touched it, the kitchen footage widened, taking up the whole screen. They could see Lynn in the kitchen, a bowl of spaghetti on the ground. The athlete was doing pushups, burying her face in the bowl of spaghetti whenever she went down.

"Rewind," Lincoln demanded.

"Patience," Lisa demanded back. She dragged her finger to the left, and as she did so the footage rewinded quickly. After a few seconds, Lincoln saw himself on the kitchen counter with a jar of peanut butter, talking to Luna.

"STOP!" Lincoln yelled, pulling Lisa's finger away from the screen, "That's the same day! Look, there's Luna!"

In the video, Luna had closed the fridge door and was now walking away.

"No note on the ground yet," Lincoln noticed, "Meaning it wasn't Luan or Luna."

In the video, Lincoln looked down at his peanut butter, stabbing his spoon inside for another scoop. As he struggled to take the spoon out, a familiar blonde wearing sunglasses came in.

"Here comes Leni," Lisa announced.

Leni was tiptoeing inside, like she did not want Lincoln to see her.

"What's she up do?" Lincoln inquired.

The ditz's head spun all around the room, like she was in search of something. After seeming unsatisfied with her search, Leni snapped her head towards Lincoln to make sure he was still distracted by his peanut butter. When his aloofness was confirmed, Leni sighed. She started to walk away, before she just so happened to look up at the ceiling. She paused, now staring directly at the camera, giving Lincoln the chills as she looked directly in his eyes. Lincoln wanted to kick his past self, the idiot was too worried about looking at his peanut butter to see what was happening.

Leni gave the camera a slow nod and put her hand into her brassiere, pulling out a slip of paper. The ditzy blonde extended her hand with the said paper in it. After taking a deep breath, she opened up her fist and dropped the note on the floor like she was dropping a microphone. The entire time, she refused to break eye contact with the camera lense. The piece of paper slowly landed right near the fridge.

Finally, Lincoln in the footage looked up from his snack. He greeted the ditz, oblivious to all that went on in front of him.

"How did I not see this?" Lincoln asked himself, "That stupid peanut butter!"

"So I guess it was Leni after all," Lisa said, "Poor dear." She gave a soft sigh, before leaning in towards her only brother "I just to inform you that I am licensed in electro-shock therapy, in case-"

"But it couldn't be Leni!" Lincoln erupted, "I saw her journal, and the writing in there doesn't match the note," Lincoln explained. He suddenly started to feel dizzy. It didn't make any sense. He just proved that Leni wasn't the author, and now...His head was spinning.

Lisa made a clicking noise with her mouth, "Hmm, maybe the note-"

Lincoln turned off Lisa's voice as he felt a vibrate against his thigh, accompanied by a snippet of the musical score of 'This Is Halloween.'

Lucy had sent him a text.

As he reached into his phone pocket, he faltered. Lucy _never_ texted. Out of everyone in the Loud Household, it was Lucy who touched her phone the least. So Lucy hitting him up was...odd. A wave of uneasiness washed over him as he slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket, bracing for the worst.

 _'My dearest brother, Lincoln. Sigh. My heart feels like it's drowning in guilt and sorrow. I know you have had a hard time with this investigation, and I know you have trusted my alibi. However, lies fill my soul with evil demons that haunt my every waking moment. I just wanted to tell you that it was me who wrote the note. My heart was sinking that day, due to Lynn's audacity to take the last slice of pie. I was heart-broken, and wrote the note out of pure rage. Then, when I was walking into the kitchen I dropped it onto the ground. I noticed and I did not pick it up, I thought I would enjoy the drama and tragedy that would have befallen the household once they found my note. However, it has gone too far and I released how much I have burdened you by writing this. Just stop the investigation, stop looking around for everything. I confessed, which will draw this mystery hunt to a close, closed like my heart. I understand if you never forgive me'_

Lincoln shook his head at his phone, knowing full well Lucy didn't touch the note either. As he opened his mouth the react, a jingly text tone erupted from his phone as well. This time, it was from Leni.

 _'Linky, omg srry I 4got 2 tell u, but note was like mine. You no the 1? The 1 were I sed everyting was folling aport 'n stuff. Srry 4 worring u ***kissy face emoji kiss face emoji*** '_

"What fresh hell is this?" Lincoln whispered to his screen.

* * *

 **Oooooooooh! Two confessions? According to Lincoln, neither of them make sense to be true. Do you believe him, or do you think one of them is true? Or maybe they're both true! Or maybe Lincoln is adopted and is married to Lynn! Or maybe Lincoln has been in a coma this entire time, and when he wakes up he'll realize that he's always been a frog and that none of his sisters ever existed.**

 **SO MANY QUESTIONS!**

 **From the very beginning, I was originally planning to have Leni drop the note by accident. But then as I was writing it, I was spontaneously like "Eh, let's just make Leni be smarter than she seems"**

 **Special Announcement: If everything goes as I planned, then there will be only two chapters left after this one. I never wanted my story to drag on and be a million chapters for no reason, so I think a few chapters is a good time for a conclusion. The next chapter will be THE REVE** **AL OF THE NOTE WRITER! And the chapter after that will be a rewind of the story from the point of view of the note writer and other characters that know things Lincoln doesn't. Cause let's face it, certain events from this story need an explanation. Not all questions can be answered from Lincoln's point of view. Like 'Lola and Lana made enemies while they were searching for** **evidence'? What was that all about? Expect that question and more to be answered.**


	8. What They Have In Common

**Hey guys! Here's the reveal! This chapter is a bit shorter than my other ones, but that's alright. The most important thing was to reveal who did it, so I didn't want to fill it up with too much extra info.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Sorry for any typos, I probably won't be able to fix them until later**

* * *

Luan and Lincoln had made up.

It was Sunday, the last day where Lincoln could keep his full attention on the investigation before school hindered his concentration. He knew the clock was ticking. While he wouldn't necessarily conclude his search once school commenced again, he knew it would be much more difficult to juggle both. He had tossed and turned all night, his brain dumping an avalanche of possibilities as to why Lucy and Leni both sent him confession texts. None of them added up.

He wanted to believe one of them was telling the truth. He wanted to be put at rest from all the worrying and relief himself with the knowledge that he got his answer. However, Lincoln's stomach couldn't convince itself that the case was closed. He didn't sleep well.

But it was now around ten in the morning, and Luan and Lincoln were sitting in the latter's room. Both had apologized to each other the previous day and were now on good terms. Lincoln had a stack of photos of each of his sisters in a haphazard order on his dresser, sorting through them.

Luan sat at the foot of his bed. She occasionally tossed suggestions at him on what a possible explanation could be, but mostly just watched her little brother suffer in silence.

Lincoln stood in front of his dresser, sorting through the photographs. He hoped looking at photographs would jolt is memory into recalling something suspicious a sibling had done that would connect to the note. No luck.

After shuffling through the photos a few thousand times, he threw his hands up in exasperation "This doesn't make any sense! Why would Leni and Lucy both send me 'confession' texts, when neither of them did it?" Lincoln groaned, letting himself fall backwards and collapse on his mattress.

Luan chuckled lightly at Lincoln's dramatic fall, "Lincoln, don't give up. Think!"

He scoffed, "That's not helpful, Luan. I _have_ been thinking. I've been tearing my brain apart all weekend, and I don't know how much time I have left! Maybe the note writer is planning on...you know. Or maybe, hopefully, they were just bluffing. Either way I have to find out as soon as possible! With school tomorrow, I might be too busy to really focus. Meaning I'd prefer it be done TODAY!"

Luan's expression darkened, "I know, Lincoln. This is scary stuff," Luan put a hand to her chin in concentration. After a moment, she tossed a piece of advice at her brother, "Just think about this: What do Leni and Lucy have in common?"

Lincoln rose from his mattress at her words, narrowing his eyes as he submerged himself in deep thought, "What do Leni and Lucy have in common?" He repeated the question for himself.

The two remained in silence for quite a few moments, their minds moving at super speed as they tried to come up with solutions. Finally Lincoln sprouted upwards and rushed towards his dresser full of yearbook photos of his siblings. He held up a glamorous photo of Leni. The blonde was wearing a homemade scarlet dress made of the family table cloth, winking at the camera. Lincoln's heart sunk as he saw the picture, thinking to himself that he hadn't seen Leni that happy in what felt like so long. He then grabbed a picture of Lucy, her entire face completely buried in her bangs besides her mouth. He quickly taped them both to his wall, hoping a visual would help him connect the dots.

His eyes darted back and forth quickly between the two photos like a crackhead's. Luan studied the photos too, trying to create her own conclusions.

After a few seconds, Lincoln's eyes froze. He looked down at the pictures of other siblings, staring intensely at each of their faces. Quickly, the boy of the family walked towards the door, prompting Luan to stand.

"You have a plan, don't you," Luan asked, recognizing Lincoln's look of determination.

Lincoln exhaled deeply, "I think so. I just need to go to Leni's room."

Luan nodded, "That's great. Want me to come with?"

Lincoln declined her offer, assuring her that he'd be okay alone. With that, Luan wished him good luck as Lincoln quickly traveled down the hall. Before he knew it, he was in front of Leni's bedroom door.

"Okay, this is it," He whispered to himself. He knocked loudly on the door.

The door opened up, revealing a familiar tall blonde staring down at the boy.

Lincoln looked up and grinned, "Hi, Lori."

Lori didn't return the smile, "What do you want?"

Lincoln brushed past her, making his way into the middle of their bedroom, "Is Leni not in here?" He looked around, checking to see if she was present.

Lori rolled her eyes, closing the door behind her, "Who said you were allowed to walk in without permission?"

Lincoln ignored Lori's obvious irritation and sauntered towards Lori's bed. He took a seat on her mattress. "Where is she?" Lincoln innocently asked.

"She's watching TV downstairs, I thought it would calm her down," Lori answered, "So, you can leave now."

Lincoln over exaggerated a feigned sigh, "It's too bad she's not here."

"You could just go downstairs and find her there-"

"Because I wanted to share with her my theory on who wrote the note," Lincoln examined his nails, waiting for Lori to inquire his suspicions. When she didn't, Lincoln cleared his throat and kept talking, "Wanna know who I think it is?"

"Uh, sure?" Lori asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket to text.

"I think it was you."

Lori paused, her body freezing like she had just turned to stone. Her phone was only mid way out of her pocket, but she let the device fall onto the ground as her arm went limp. Her big brown eyes shone with horror, her mouth gaped slightly. Her bottom lip quivered, unsure of whether or not to speak. After an eternity of hesitation, she spoke.

"That's absurd! I-I didn't even, I didn't even set foot into the kitchen when the note was placed! I was up here the entire time. I _love_ myself, I'm...I'm pretty and amazing. I would never write something so terrible when I have so many little siblings who need me," Lori argued.

"You wanna know _my_ theory?" Lincoln asked. Lori was mute. Lincoln took her silence as an invitation to speak, "I think Leni found the note on your side of the closet, or in your diary, or whatever. You...you forced her not to tell anyone, so she tried to seek help the best way she could. She dropped the note in the kitchen, knowing someone would find it."

Lori's expression hardened. She clenched her fists until she could feel the nails breaking her skin, her knuckles turning white as Lincoln continued with his suspicions.

"But poor innocent Leni couldn't handle her _closest_ sister saying such crude things about herself, which is why she's been behaving like a nervous wreck all weekend. You, on the other hand, have been acting weird these past couple days as well. I let Leni, Luna, and Luan's drama over shadow your peculiar behavior, and I apologize for that. But looking back, you've been spending a lot of time Lucy lately," Lincoln pursed his lips and shook his head. He slowly stood up, "You two haven't exactly been close since this weekend. You went from barely noticing the other existed, to pouring her fake blood all over yourself. You claimed to be 'helping her with her writing,' but the dark nature of your poems attracted you, didn't they? You found yourself relating to Lucy's morbid messages in her writing, and therefore started spending more and more time with her."

"You don't know anything," Lori growled through clenched teeth.

"I know that somewhere along the way, you told Lucy the truth," Lincoln shrugged, "Or maybe she figured it out on her own, she's a pretty smart girl. Either way, you now had two sisters that cared about you very much in on your secret. They both loved you, and respected your decision to keep it private. So, they covered for you. But their mistake was, they _both_ tried to cover for you at the same time."

Lori drew her eyebrows together with confusion, "They did that?" Her voice was barely above a whisper as she fought the tears pooling at the edge of her eyes.

Lincoln did not hear her. "When I got both their confessions, I was really confused. I knew neither of them had done it. So Luan asked me, 'What do Leni and Lucy have in common?' After tearing through my brain, I realized that the only thing they had in common: was you. You were close with both of them. And in the end, that ended up leading me to realize it was you," Lincoln's voice broke at the last words, his eyes beginning to sting as tears threatened to pour, "It's been you this entire time."

Lori lowered herself onto her mattress, her eyes glued to her lap.

"And now that I'm saying this out loud, you have been known to be very insecure," Lincoln realized. Once he laid out his evidence of the note, his mind wandered to Lori's behavior before this whole mess, "You were always so clingy around Bobby. Why was that? Were you afraid he was going to stop loving you if you ever let go? Whenever another girl so much as glanced in his general direction, you go into full-on attack mode. You're insanely jealous of Carol, because she's more popular, and you think she's more pretty. She makes you feel inferior, so you turn your envy into rage and go as far as to say you hate her. You worry so much about what your friends think about you, and get really worked up whenever you get into a fall out with them. When Clyde stopped paying attention to you, you became obsessed with getting him to love you again," Lincoln blinked, the words coming out of his mouth shocking himself. He didn't realize this, but his hands were now trembling as he continued, "You've been the most _insecure_ person in this house. A-And no one has ever noticed. For my entire life, I always thought the way you acted was so weird and annoying. I always rolled my eyes whenever you'd go crazy over Bobby, or say mean things about Carol whenever you had the chance. But...but now I get why you're this way. You hate yourself _._ "

Tears began to rise, blurring Lincoln's field vision. He blinked them away, wincing at the sting. When his vision returned, he looked down at Lori. Her face was now buried in her hands, her hair falling over her face.

"I know Lucy and Leni thought they were doing what was best for you," Lincoln placed a hand on her shoulder, "But letting these feelings bottle up inside is extremely dangerous."

Lori slowly shook her head, her body rattling with the sobs that she wouldn't let escape. Her body jerked forwards a couple times, gasping for air. Lincoln scrunched up his eyebrows at Lori's erratic movements, until he realized Lori's attempts at holding back her cries was preventing her from breathing.

"Lori, let it out!" Lincoln rushed up to her, frantically rubbing circles on her back, "I told you, bottling any type of emotion is bad for you!"

Lori, whether she did this willingly or not, obeyed. She erupted into sobs, her hands over her face muffling her piercing sobs. Lincoln quickly embraced the blonde, squeezing tightly and resting his head on her head.

He had solved the case. But his ego wasn't boosted like Luan predicted it would. He didn't know what he felt. Of course Lincoln was glad he solved the case. He was was glad he had done it before she had done anything she regretted. But he was also devastated that he brushed her insecurities aside for so long. Most of all, at that very moment, all he wanted was for her to keep crying. Taking her to therapy, getting her the help she needed, that could wait a few minutes. To him, all she needed now was to let everything out. Let out all the secrets she kept this weekend, all the secrets she had been keeping for who knows how long.

Lincoln rubbed the teen's, releasing gentle ' _shhhhh'_ s as he felt her body rattle against his chest.

* * *

 **It's not over yet!**

 **So, a couple of you caught onto who did it by the last chapter I posted, so good job. But congratulations to user 'roxygoth' for being the ONLY person to call it before chapter 7.**

 **Next chapter will be a rewind of the events that took place from the characters that knew a LOT more about the mystery than Lincoln. That way, we can finally answer some questions, including: why did Leni REALLY slap Lori? Who did Lola and Lana make enemies with while they were investigating. How did Lucy find out? How did Leni find the note? What happened after Lori _literally_ pulled Leni out of Lucy's room? And MORE! Lincoln definitely got some details wrong in his theory, we'll explore that next.**

 **Yikes, this story was kind of a downer. I hope to go back to some comedy Loud House fics after this.**

 **Stay tuned!**


	9. BONUS: The Hidden Perspective

**I'm so sorry this took so long. I lost track of time and had no idea I had not updated since December. But to be fair I've never written a chapter as long as this one before (that I recall.) I did not write this chapter the way I wrote the rest of them. This is a rewind chapter, from the perspective of the characters that knew more about this mystery than Lincoln did.**

 **Before each section, I named the chapter the event took place in, and then I told aspects of the story from other points of views. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Sorry for typos!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Discovery of an Unpleasant Note**

Lincoln sighed, "Meeting adjourned. I'm gonna go talk to Lucy about the note, just in case," He used the hand the note was in to wave at his sisters, before following Lynn out the door. Luna and Luan clipped his heels, each going in different directions after stepping out of Lori and Leni's room.

Leni was sitting on the ground, wincing as the door closed behind her siblings. She faced her lap, watching her hands shake and feeling her blood run cold. She felt guilty letting Lincoln feel perplexed about the note. She knew she could've saved him the trouble and just announced that she _knew_ who did it.

The younger blonde had been tearing through her closet, looking for her old crocs to burn in the fireplace. When she could not find them, Leni decided to look through Lori's side of the closet. She tore through her roommates side very quickly, knowing getting caught red handed going through her stuff would be the end of her. Right when she was about the give up, a small note fell out of Lori's shorts:

 _'I'm so tired._

 _Everything is falling apart, and I feel so helpless._

 _I'm tired of it._

 _I'm tired of being alive._

 _I'm tired of everything.'_

Leni may not have been the brightest bulb, the reading that note gave her a rush of fear. Tired of being alive? What was she talking about?

She decided it would be better to find Lori herself. Leni grabbed the note, shoved in into her bra, and marched out of her bedroom in search of her older sister. She made her way to the bathroom door and knocked furiously.

"Occupied!" Lori's voice said.

"Sorry, I was just looking for Lori," Leni said, her ignorance making Lori sigh from behind the door.

Leni walked down the stairs, figuring she may have been in the kitchen. She had not seen Lori eat in a while, she must have been hungry. She made her way towards the kitchen, greeted by the sight of Lincoln eating peanut butter from the jar. Ew. His head was focused on his meal, not noticing the ditz's presence at all.

She furiously looked all around the kitchen, but there was no Lori in sight. Sighing, she started to make her way out of the kitchen, when she just so happened to glance at the ceiling. She froze, her eyes spotting a small video camera up above, it's red light beeping furiously.

Leni jaw tightened, having a staring contest with the camera. This was an invasion of privacy, this was unneeded, this was...perfect. Maybe Lisa was watching! Lisa could probably handle the situation much better than herself, Leni figured. She looked over at Lincoln to make sure he was still distracted. When his aloofness was confirmed, she looked back at the camera and gave it a nod as if to say 'you know what to do.'

Leni reached into her bra and pulled out the dreaded note. She extended her hand with the note in it, staring at the camera the entire time. She dropped the note, deciding it was better it be solved by someone smarter than her.

Against her suspicions, it ended up being Lincoln that was on the case for the note, and not Lisa. Still, Leni was not complaining. Lincoln was smart, he would probably know what was best.

Now that the senior sibling meeting was over, and it was just the two of them, Leni figured it was the perfect time to discuss the elephant in the room.

Lori noticed Leni staring at her, her eyes wide as a dear. She tossed her younger sister a smile, a smile Leni could no longer trust. "Hi."

Leni did not answer, her bottom lip quivering rapidly.

"What's wrong? Is it about the note?" She lost her smile once she detected something was upsetting Leni and walked up to her, towering over the ditzy blonde, "Don't worry about it. You know how Lucy is, it'll be fine. It will all be okay," Lori gave her another assuring warm smile, a smile that usually never failed to ease Leni's nerves. Usually.

Leni scoffed in disbelief. It was awful enough Lori had written the note, but Lori lying about it to _her_ of all people brought a sour taste to her mouth. She thought Lori had trusted her. But this was just degrading. Leni narrowed her eyes. If Lori was not going to spill the beans, she might as well tell her she was not the only one who knew the truth.

"I know you wrote the note, Lori."

Lori's body tensed up as the younger of the two said those words. Leni waited for her to respond, but Lori did not say a word. She tried to to keep the smile on her face, but it wavered quite a bit.

"L-Lincoln said at the meeting that whoever wrote this might t-try to..." Leni faltered, her blood running cold as she imagined Lori trying to...

"Leni," Lori said gently, "What are you talking about?"

Leni blinked, "T-The note. The note you wrote we just had a meeting about it-"

"What note? What meeting? Honey I think that may have been a bad dream," Lori hid her trembling hands behind her back and feigned a concerned expression, "Are you feeling alright?"

Leni faltered. Had it just been a dream? This had not been the first time she mistook a dream for reality before. Maybe she was just...wait a minute...in Leni's dreams, everything was always pink!

"Oh my god, Lori, you're _lying._ " Leni shouted at her, tears rising in her eyes as she stood up.

Lori winced, not expecting Leni to figure out her trick so easily. Lori's attempt at gaslighting her only hurt Leni more.

"You really think I'm dumb enough to be fooled like that?" Leni asked, her voice laced with ice.

"I'm sorry," Lori said, "I just thought I could...I didn't want to stress you out!"

"Too late!" Leni returned, "And now Lincoln is wasting his time talking to Lucy, when she didn't do it," Leni took a deep breath, her voice becoming more timid, "Maybe we should tell-"

Lori cut her off, "Leni, I'm only going to say this _once_. Yes, I wrote the note. I was hurting, and I needed to find a way to relieve my pain. So, I scribbled down a few of my thoughts, cause I thought it would help," The eldest Loud gave her the most terrifying glare she'd ever seen, "And I put it on MY side of the closet, a place you're _not_ allowed to snoop through. You went through my stuff. You took something that was _very_ personal, and you dropped it in the kitchen where EVERYONE COULD SEE IT!"

Leni brought her hands to her ears and winced, shaking under Lori's screams. The two did not have much of a height difference, but suddenly she felt so small.

"Because of YOU, a piece of my personal life has been exposed! This is your fault Leni, you should've known better!" She glowered, "So, in order to make it up to me, you will never tell ANYONE about this. Is that clear?"

Leni brought her hands to her temples, her head throbbing.

"Have you really thought about k-k-killing y-"

Lori threw her hands up in exasperation, "I'm going to see if Lincoln is harassing Lucy about the note. You better keep this to yourself, Leni. For once, don't blurt out a secret," Lori stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Lori did not take a moment to hesitate before walking into Lucy's bedroom, hoping Lincoln was still convinced Lucy was the culprit

When she opened her door, Lucy was found sitting on her bed, furiously writing in her poem book.

"Hey, Lucy," Lori greeted cautiously, "Has Lincoln stopped by?"

Lucy nodded, "Yeah. He thought I wrote some suicidal note in _green_ pen. Can you believe that? I assured him it was not me though, and I sent him off to continue his search."

Lori internally winced, almost upset that Lincoln had stopped wondering after Lucy. The blonde quickly shook the thought out of her head, quickly realizing it was selfish to want Lucy to take the blame.

"While you're here, I want to tell you about my new poem," Before Lori could escape, Lucy continued "Lincoln has been really freaking out over whoever wrote this note. I thought it could be cool if I took inspiration from that into a poem. Like, I can somehow sense the person's suffering from a mile away. It's going to be in my perspective. It starts with-"

"I think it would be better if you wrote a poem from the _perspective_ of the person who wrote the note," Lori suggested timidly. Lori immediately winced as soon as she said that. She had better things to be doing that helping Lucy her poems. She had to get out of there. As Lori tried to turn around, Lucy responded.

"I don't know. I've never written in the point of view for someone else before. I can't see myself in someone else's shoes. I can't just hop into the perspective of the one who did write the note."

 _'Trust me, I sure can,'_ Lori thought to herself, turning back around to face the goth. She cleared her throat, "Oh, I'm sure it's not that hard. Write about how everyday feels like the walls are closing in on them. Like, no matter how hard they try, they can't seem to stay happy. The pressure they're under makes them feel like their head is being shoved under water by a stubborn hand, or whatever metaphor you want to use. Your lungs begin to shrivel, and you think to yourself 'this is the end,'" Her expression turned colder as she began to get deeper and deeper, "You feel like no matter what you do, nothing will ever matter. You feel like your family neglects you, and that you're not special enough to be remembered. You get a sinking feeling that those who claim to love you are just pretending, and that you actually annoy them," She blinked away her tears, "And you just curl up in a ball and think to yourself, 'would it even matter if I died right now?'" She paused, surprised at the avalanche that came out of her own mouth.

Lori looked at Lucy, afraid that she had over shared. Though her bangs hid most of her face, Lori could tell she was shocked beyond belief. Her mouth was agape, like she had just seen a ghost. Lori grimaced, _'Please don't be suspicious, please don't be suspicious, please don't be suspicious.'_

"I underestimated you, Lori," Lucy said, still flabbergasted at Lori's way with words, "You're a creative genius."

Lori gave her a small smile. In a way, it felt good to finally release her inner feelings, even if Lucy was oblivious to Lori's situation.

Lucy pulled out her poem book and a pen, "Let's get started."

* * *

 **Chapter 3: A Slap In The Face**

Night befell the Loud House, and Leni Loud was deep within dream land. She knew it was a dream, because in her dreams everything was pink and she could fly.

 _Leni floated whimsically in her bedroom, doing flips and tricks. Deciding she wanted to explore the house, Leni flew towards the bathroom door, giggling wildly as she did back flips in mid-air._

 _Humming to herself, the blond grabbed onto the doorknob. She yelped, pulling her hand away and falling flat on her bum. She hit the floor hard, pain flowing through her as gravity pulled on her harder. The doorknob was made of ice. Leni looked down her hand, her palm slowly turning black and rotting off._

 _She shrugged. Just because she had frost bite, doesn't mean she couldn't put on some makeup. Not wanting to touch the frosty doorknob again, she kicked down the door and stepped in._

 **(I tried not to make this one graphic, but if depictions of death are a trigger for you, skip to the next place you see bold font)**

 _That's when she began to scream. Leni fell on her hands and knees, embracing herself as a blood curdling screams tore through her throat. Her screams made the entire room shake as she grabbed onto her hair, pulling on it hard as she screamed and screamed and screamed at the sight she just saw._

 _In a dimly lit corner of the bathroom was a small bath-tub, the one all her siblings shared. A body with blonde hair wearing a blue tank top laid in the tub, the water surrounding her crimson with her blood. On the ledge of the tub was a bloody razor. Her face was now blue from the lack of oxygen entering_ _her system, making Leni want to hurl. What was once Lori Loud's eyes were vacant, staring right back at Leni as she screamed like no tomorrow._

 _"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" Leni yelled at the body, although she knew she couldn't hear, "HOW COULD YOU?"_

 _Suddenly, the body in the tub's blue face morphed into a smile, making_ Leni jolt upwards from her sleep.

 **(You're good to go)**

Lori was standing over her bed, shaking her shoulders and yelling, "Leni, are you okay? What was going on? You were literally screaming in your sleep! Answer me!"

Leni gasped as she stared at her older sister's face. What was there was a concerned Lori Loud trying to comfort her, but all Leni could see was the body bathing in a pool of blood.

When Leni stood up, she didn't exactly understand her motivation for what she was about to do. She didn't know if it was the anger she had towards Lori for what she did in her dream, or the fear of losing her playing with her emotions. But in the heat of the moment, Leni lifted her hand up and slapped Lori across the face. The impact of Leni's palm slapping against Lori's cheek sent the latter tumbling over her table lamp.

Leni gasped as soon as she did it, but the damage had been done. Lori's neck had snapped to the left side, her thick blonde hair blocking her face. ' _Was she angry?'_ Leni thought. Leni nearly scoffed at herself for that thought, OF COURSE SHE WAS ANGRY! _'She's depressed, and she wrote a note about not wanting to be alive. And how do you help her? You slap her. Nice going,'_ Leni internally scolded herself.

Much to Leni's surprise, the girl she had just physically hurt began to smile. Leni tensed, an acrid taste forming in her mouth. She held her breath, waiting for Lori to retaliate.

Lori slowly straightened her back, her hand gently placed on her now red cheek with a smile on her face. Leni could see the tears pool in Lori's eyes, she noticed her hands tremble and caught her bottom lip quivering as she struggled to hold her smile. Leni bit the inside of her cheeks, still waiting for Lori to strike her back. When she didn't, Leni grew more and more petrified. This wasn't Lori. It couldn't be. Never in a million years would Lori Loud stand there smiling at the person dumb enough to slap her. It was almost as if the figure in front of Leni was just an empty shell of Lori Loud, just like she saw in that bathtub.

Lori Loud opened her mouth, inhaling quickly like she was finally ready to speak. The seventeen year old faltered at first, until she finally said, "Thank you," her voice wavered wildly, her voice several octaves higher, "You really helped me realize something."

As a tear slipped down her cheek, Lori swiftly sped-walk out of the room. She shoved past Lincoln, who was for some reason standing outside their door.

The eldest Loud made her way downstairs, her hand still against her cheeks as she sped past anyone she saw before making her way out the front door. After marching towards the driveway, she pulled open Vanzilla's door and seated herself in the driver's seat.

Leni's slap stung her cheek, the eldest could still feel half of her face throb. While she seemed frail, Lori had to give her sister credit, she had an impressive amount of strength. Before Leni's hand had even retracted, before Lori's head had fully snapped the the side, a million thoughts went through her head. Suddenly, everything was in slow motion, except for her racing mind. Lori didn't know the specific reasons why Leni had struck her, though she knew it had something to do with the note.

But as she felt the sting of Leni's hand, Lori began to feel like she deserved it. No, she took that back. She deserved way worse. Lori wished her younger sibling had beat the living daylights out of her.

Lori slid downwards in the car seat, tears streaming down her cheeks and a smile plastered on her face. She wasn't lying when she told her roommate that her slap helped her realize something, something really important. _No one cared._ Lori knew Leni was dim-witted, but she still believed Leni was concerned about her when she realized the note was written by her. Sure, the day before it really seemed like Leni cared about her well being. Ha. Clearly, Lori was wrong. If Leni could still slap her across the face after all she knew she'd been through yesterday, it just goes to show Leni didn't care at all.

"Message received, Leni," Lori whispered to no one, "Message received."

Sighing, the blonde banged her head on the car horn repeatedly, not caring about the irritating noise it made this early in the morning. She hit her head against it about ten times, enjoying the pain it caused her forehead. Finally she stopped, taking deep breaths as she attempted to recompose herself.

She leaned her head against the window of Vanzilla, closing her eyes and resting for about ten minutes before she whispered to herself "I have to get out of here soon."

"Take your time," A monotone voice beside her said.

Lori jumped, clutching her chest in fear as she looked next to her. In the passenger seat was Lucy Loud. The young goth stared at the glove box in front of her.

"LUCY!" Lori groaned in frustration, "You can't just...you are not allowed to just-"

"Relax, blondie," Lucy said, "You don't have to come out right away. Let those tears out, it will help release your demons."

"Get out." Lori ordered, wiping tear streaks from her blotchy cheeks.

"You know, Lori, you can tell me anything," Lucy turned her head to look up at her, "I'll be understanding."

Lori tensed, coming to a realisation: Lucy knew. Of course she did, she just spent the last afternoon reciting morbid poems about suicide with her.

Lori sniffled, "I think you already know what you want me to share, so there's no point in saying it out loud." Lori bit the inside of her cheek, hoping Lucy would say 'what are you talking about?' and Lori wouldn't have to worry.

Instead, Lucy nodded, "Okay, that's fair. If you don't want to say it out loud, that's fine. I won't force you to confess, and I won't say anything. Lincoln is way less informed on the subject than I am, if he were to find out he'd just make things worse."

Lori widened her eyes, "You really think Lincoln would make things worse," Lori caught herself, "Is what I'd ask _if_ I were the one to write the note, which I am not."

Lucy cracked a smile, "I wouldn't worry about it. Luna, Luan, and Leni are being whiny babies at the moment, that'll knock you off the scent. Lincoln's gonna think all three are depressed just because they're on the same menstrual cycle, you're off the hook. Plus you have the best excuse: you didn't enter the kitchen when the note was found."

Lori looked down with guilt, "Actually, Leni's acting this way because she's mad at me. She knows about the n...she _knows_. I thought that she'd want to help me, but this morning she slapped me across the face," Lori exhaled deeply, "She made it official that she absolutely hates me. Leni, of _all_ people, hates me."

Lucy frowned deeper than she usually did, "I'm sorry Leni did that to you, but she does _not_ hate you. Leni isn't capable of hate-"

"I thought so too, but I guess I'm the first person she ever hated. It makes sense. If Leni doesn't care, then I guess I am worthless after all," Lori knew she needed to quit talking like that, but once she got started she just couldn't start. She was starting to remember why she didn't want anyone to know.

"I care," Lucy argued, "And I am the least caring person you will ever meet. That's got to mean something."

"Let's go inside," Lucy said, "Unless you need a few more moments to yourself."

Lori sighed, clutching her stomach. She looked in the car mirror, making sure her face wasn't blotchy before saying, "It's fine, I can go inside. Only if you come with me."

Lucy nodded, "Meet me in my room when you're done. We have tons to talk about."

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Mystery Team**

"I can't find anything!" Lana said, looking under Luan's mattress.

"Well look harder!" Lola shouted back at her from Luna's top bunk.

Lincoln had recently given the twins a very important assignment: look for clues that prove Luan or Luna wrote the note. They had spent the last ten minutes going through their room, only to find nothing.

Lola reached under Luna's pillow, "Got something!" She pulled the object out from under the pillow and wagged it in the air, revealing a purple vape wand.

Lana tilted her head at the object, "What's that? A whistle?"

Lola squealed, "It's a magic princess wand! I'm totally keeping it!" She shoved the vape wand inside her dress.

Lana dived under Luan's bed, "Hey! I think I found something!" She emerged from underneath the bed, revealing Luan's joke book. She quickly speed-read through it, only to find a joke that confirmed Lincoln's suspicions. The older twin marked the page with a booger and slammed it shut, "I got evidence."

Lola lifted up Luna's mattress, pulling out a song book. She speed-read it as well, stopping on a certain page and widening her eyes, "Oh my god, I think I totally found something!"

"What are you guys doing?" Lucy appeared out of thin air, now suddenly behind the two.

Lola yelped, falling off the top bunk.

"Uh, nothing!" Lana yelped, hiding the joke-book behind her back..

Lola, being more defensive, asked the goth, "What do _you_ care?"

"Let me guess, looking for evidence to prove who wrote the note," Lucy said, balling her fists.

"Maybe so, maybe not," Lana stuck her tongue out at her.

"Guys, let it go," Lucy asked, "You shouldn't be doing this."

Lola rolled her eyes, "And why shouldn't we? We're being detectives, let us do our business."

Lucy crossed her arms, "If you don't stop this investigation right now, I'm telling Luna and Luan you were going through their stuff."

Lana and Lola exchanged a look, before Lola finally answered, "Fine."

The two twins hid their evidence behind their backs, quickly walking out before Lucy could see.

"So now what, are we done?" Lana asked her twin.

Lola shrugged, "With those two, yeah. But, I think that Leni also keeps a diary."

Lana and Lola exchanged a sinister smile, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The two said simultaneously to each other.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: After the Storm Outs**

Leni had flaked, and she hated herself for it.

Lincoln had organized a sibling meeting, and gave her a perfect chance to apologize to Lori in front of everyone.

Leni rushed out of the room, wanting to nothing but collapse somewhere and cry. She realized that she couldn't run into her own room, and settled on Lucy's instead.

She threw herself on Lucy's bed, using her mattress to muffle her shaking sobs. She couldn't believe it, this was the perfect chance to apologize to Lori, and she blew it!

"Leni," A monotone voice made her jump. While her vision was blurred by her tears, Leni could see that the Loud interrupting her melt-down was none other than Lucy.

"You're supposed to make me feel better?" Leni asked. Her tone was nasty, but Leni was never really talented when it came to putting up a filter.

Lucy scoffed, "You're lucky I was the one that volunteered to help since I am the only one, besides Lori, that really knows what's going on with you."

Leni widened her eyes, surprisingly connecting the dots immediately, "S-She didn't want to tell me about the note, but she told _you_?"

"Nope, I figured it out. If it were up to her, her dark secret would still be locked in the chambers of her heart. Besides her, we are the only two Louds that know about the note, and we want to _keep it that way_. Which is why you need to get your act together!" Lucy raised her voice in her last sentence, causing Leni to shrink in her mattress.

"Lori does not hate you, Leni. She never hated you. She's just being a bit standoffish towards you, but what did you expect? You slapped her in the face!" Lucy ranted at her older sister.

Leni winced, "I didn't...It wasn't because-"

"I know! I know you don't hate Lori, I get it. You didn't mean to, you're sorry, blah blah blah! But Lori thinks that you hate her, and can you blame her? Not only did you hit her, but you couldn't even apologize to her!"

"I tried!" Leni retorted, growing unhappy towards Lucy's sharp tone.

"I know, but you didn't. This whole situation is completely ridiculous! You should have just-"

"Lucy, listen to me!" It was now Leni's turn to raise her voice, "I know what I did was wrong, I know I shouldn't have slapped her, and I know she thinks I hate her! I'm not that much of an idiot, I don't need a lecture. And I tried, I tried so hard to apologize to her. But...she was covered in blood," Leni shuddered, "And yes, I know it was fake. But when I looked her in the eye, and saw the blood dripping down her body, I panicked. It was the same color of the blood I saw in my dream! Linky said that the person who wrote the note might try to...you know. So when I saw her covered in blood, it made me think harder and harder about the possibility of her...doing _that_ to herself. I choked up at the sight of it, and I needed to run. And the last thing I need right now is someone yelling at me about it! So just go back to the meeting and leave me alone."

Lucy paused for a moment, guilt rising as she absorbed Leni's side of the story. Finally, she said, "Listen, I don't want to be your enemy. I already have enough enemies: my inner demons. Since we are the only ones who know Lori's secret, let's work together to keep it that way. Got it?"

Leni nodded.

"Good. You better not pull anything like that again, or your hair dye will be slapped off your head." Lucy finished. Leni shrunk into her mattress, nodding her head furiously.

"What's going on?" Luna asked.

Leni and Lucy both turned to the doorway, only to find Luna and Lincoln standing there. Lucy rolled her eyes under her bangs, their timing could not have been worse.

Lucy answered Luna's question vaguely, deciding this was none of their business and must be handled by herself, Leni, and Lori only. Luna tried to ask them more questions, but neither Leni or Lucy would give them the response they needed.

As Lucy opened her mouth the kick the two out, she froze as the center of the drama entered the room.

A tall girl with damp blonde hair and fake blood washed off her for the most part walked up the the goth.

Lori's eyebrows narrowed with concern at Leni, "Is she-"

"She's alright," Lucy confirmed, not wanting to get to specific in front of Lincoln and Luna in the room, "I talked to her, and we defiantly made some progress."

Lori gave Lucy a grateful nod, before shifting her attention towards Leni. She tried to calm her and invited her to come to her room.

"Wait a second," Luna butted in, "This doesn't feel right! I think there's something whack going on with Leni."

Lori looked at Lucy, as if to say _'Why is she here?'_

Lucy returned with a helpless look of her own to say she had not invited them.

Finally, Lori sighed and told Luna she could handle it. The Mick Swagger wannabe then proceeded to attack Leni with questions about the note. The questions upset the latter, Lori noticed the tears filling up in Leni's eyes as she tried to form an answer.

Lori knew the two needed to talk, it was the only way to fix things.

"Leni, listen to me, okay? You don't owe her anything. Don't feel pressured to tell them anything you don't wanna tell them, okay?"

Luna protested, shouting at Lori for trying to stop Leni from speaking. But Lori was no longer paying attention. She knew what was going on, and Leni didn't. She knew was she was doing, and all she needed to do right now was talk to Leni privately.

In the midst of Luna's protests, she shouted out that the more Leni was around her, the more uncomfortable Leni got. That one stung Lori like venom. She almost shouted something back in defense, but bit her tongue. She needed to get Leni out of here.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Lori began to pull Leni up. She felt bad about it, but they needed to talk right now. When Leni barely budged, Lori grabbed hold of her hair and yanked her out of the room. The two struggled down the hallway, but Lori had finally brought the girl into their shared room.

Once Lori closed the door behind them and released her hair, Leni spilled.

"I'm sorry I slapped you, I had a nightmare about you killing yourself and I slapped you I don't know why I was angry and upset and confused and scared!" Leni immediately embraced the taller blonde, embracing her in a tight hug.

Lori narrowed her eyes, pulling her roommate away from her, "So...you don't hate me?"

Leni shook her head like a wet dog, "Of course not. I love you, and I'm really sorry if me hitting you made you feel sad. It made me feel sad. It made me feel sad w-w-when you slit your wrists in the bathtub though. I just lost control, I was mad at you for l-leaving me. But what I did was bad. Sorry sorry sorry!"

Lori sighed, "It's...it's okay." She gave Leni a smile to reassure her that she'd accepted her apology. She felt relieved, grateful that Leni cared what happened to her.

Leni's bottom lip quivered, "Can I just ask you a question?"

Lori shrugged, "I-I guess?"

"Why did you write that note if you did not want anyone to see it?"

Lori sighed deeply, "I just...I was trying to...Lucy is not the only one that tries to express themselves through writing, I guess," She slapped herself in the forehead, "I was such an idiot to keep it in my pocket. It just slipped my mind, I guess."

Leni frowned deeply at her, her eyes growing watery, "Are you sure you wanna keep this a secret forever?"

What Leni had asked was a question Lori had been asking herself for quite some time.

"Leni, I promise, it'll be fine if we keep this under wraps. It will all blow over soon, I swear."

"Well, if you see so," Leni bit her lip. Lori could tell Leni was unsure, but she trusted that Leni would not say a word. She would do whatever it took to do what she thought was best for Lori.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Two Lies and a Video**

 **(Slight mention of self harm, if this is a trigger for you skip to the next place you see the bold font)**

Lori was in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror with a steaming straightening iron in her hand. Her hair was now completely straight, falling down to her mid back. Usually, the eldest Loud only did her hair like this when she was going out. However, today she was doing it do distract herself. It was not working.

She and Leni finally had their face-to-face talk. That was supposed to be a good thing. Right? Now, Lori was not so sure. Maybe she should not have forced Leni to keep this such a huge secret. It clearly was distressing her, Lori did not want to be responsible for that.

Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of guilt washed over her. She felt selfish, she did not deserve the attention Leni was giving her. She wished Leni and Lucy had never found out. She wished Lincoln never found the note. She wished she had never been dumb enough to write something so terrible and leave it lying around for anyone to find it. Lori closed her eyes, lifting her tank top and bringing the steaming straightening iron to her stomach. Immediately, she cried out in pain as her skin sizzled.

It was not her first time doing this, but suddenly her guilty thoughts were muffled by the pain.

 **(Okay, you're good.)**

Lori sighed, her stomach feeling like it was on fire as she lowered her shirt back over the wound. She slammed open the door, only to find Lincoln standing in the hall, a familiar green book in his hands.

 _Leni's journal,_ Lori widened her eyes as soon as she saw it. Why was Lincoln looking through...could this have to do with the investigation? What if Leni wrote about her situation in the journal?

Lori nearly spinted up to Lincoln, and the younger boy's eyes widened with fear.

"Is this Leni's?" Lori asked through her teeth, already knowing the answer.

Lincoln winced, "Yes," he whispered.

Lori pinched the bridge of her nose, pretending to only be angry about him stressing out Leni, "Lincoln, you have to cut it out! Leni is in a very tense situation right now, we all are! The last thing I want is to make her more upset than she already is, and the last thing you want is to make _me_ more upset!"

Lori snatched the journal out of his hands, and after a brief conversation about Luan, Lincoln sprinted to Lisa's room after she mentioned Lisa and cameras.

Once Lincoln had disappeared, Lori dropped her mask on anger, replacing it with an expression of sorrow. Lincoln did not seem to have read anything, but she still was nervous that the journal would bring him closer to the truth.

"Everything okay?" Lucy's voice said, coming from directly behind her.

But this time, Lori didn't jump. She just turned around slowly to face the eight year old.

"Lincoln read Leni's journal," Lori told the young goth, her hands trembling, "H-He's gonna be closer to figuring this out! He's gonna find out, he's gonna get suspicious, h-he's gonna...Oh my gosh, this is bad."

Lucy frowned deeper, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, "Yeah, I was hiding in the vents over their room. They noticed the handwriting did not match the note, their suspect list is getting smaller," When Lori slapped her hands over her own mouth in fear, Lucy added, "But that doesn't mean anything. It'll just make him more confused-"

"Face it, Lucy," Lori sniffled, "Soon, this whole thing is going to fall apart. I might as well just brace myself for the impact."

As Lucy opened her mouth to say something, Lori stormed into her room, slamming the door shut. Lucy sighed, finding her own hands trembling as well. She did not want to show it, but she was just as nervous about Lincoln finding out as Lori. She knew what it was like to have everyone look at her with a nasty expression whenever she walked the halls. Her own siblings would roll their eyes at her constant sadness, and scoff at her whenever she tried to read of her poems.

Lucy knew her gothness was nothing compared to the way Lori was feeling, she was not trying to compare the two. But, she did not want people treating Lori like there was something wrong with her. Sighing, Lucy pulled a black flip phone out of her pocket, and typed:

 _'My dearest brother, Lincoln. Sigh. My heart feels like it's drowning in guilt and sorrow. I know you have had a hard time with this investigation, and I know you have trusted my alibi. However, lies fill my soul with evil demons that haunt my every waking moment. I just wanted to tell you that it was me who wrote the note. My heart was sinking that day, due to Lynn's audacity to take the last slice of pie. I was heart-broken, and wrote the note out of pure rage. Then, when I was walking into the kitchen I dropped it onto the ground. I noticed and I did not pick it up, I thought I would enjoy the drama and tragedy that would have befallen the household once they found my note. However, it has gone too far and I released how much I have burdened you by writing this. Just stop the investigation, stop looking around for everything. I confessed, which will draw this mystery hunt to a close, closed like my heart. I understand if you never forgive me'_

Lucy sighed, _Now no one will ever need to know,_ She thought, as she quickly hit send. After doing so, she ran into her room and belly flopped onto her bed, getting into character so when Lincoln came in her room to check on her, she would look as forlorn as possible. After it had been a few hours since she sent the 'confession,' and Lincoln still had not showed up, she slowly became more and more concerned.

* * *

It was night time in the Loud House, and everyone was asleep, except for the two eldest. Lori was pacing in circles, breathing heavily as she softly murmured to herself.

Leni was tucked into bed, watching Lori with concern. It was almost the middle of the night, and the two had not slept a blink.

"Lori?" Leni asked, "Are you alright?"

Lori froze in place, her eyes widened with fear. Staring directly into her sister's eyes, she said, "I don't think I have much time left."

When Leni released a chilling gasp, Lori realized she worded the phrase wrong.

"Not with life! I meant, I don't think I have much time left before Lincoln figures out it was me who wrote that stupid note!"

Leni exhaled in relief, then smiled. She pulled the covers on her blanket up off her, then patted a section of the mattress next to her, inviting Lori to have a seat.

Lori quickly crawled into Leni's bed, and Leni threw the covers back over them. Before Lori could say anything, Leni snuggled towards her and wrapped her arms around her. Lori's body was still cold, but Leni did not let that bother her. She hoped her warmth would pass over to her. Lori turned off the lamp, and the world around them turned dark. Lori and Leni's only sense of each other was through their touch.

Feeling a sense of comfort, Lori closed her eyes as Leni nuzzled her head into her shoulder.

"Trust me, you totally have nothing to worry about," Leni whispered sleepily, "I did something last night that will have no one suspect you." Several hours before, Leni had overheard Lori and Lucy's conversation about how scared Lori was about Linky finding out. And out of sympathy, Leni sent Linky a text that read:

 _'Linky, omg srry I 4got 2 tell u, but note was like mine. You no the 1? The 1 were I sed everyting was folling aport 'n stuff. Srry 4 worring u ***kissy face emoji kiss face emoji*** '_

Lori opened her eyes, "What do you mean? What did you do?" However, Lori heard soft snoring coming from Leni, and Lori sighed.

I guess she'd find out tomorrow.

* * *

 **AN: And she DID find out tomorrow. That's all folks!**

 **Thank you so much for reading, and for all the support. This is officially by most reviewed fanfiction ever, and I'm so stoked! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

 **Now that the story is over, I can tell you the things I was planning on doing, but ended up not doing.**

 **I originally was going to have Lincoln believe that Leni wrote the note after seeing Lisa's video footage of her dropping it in the kitchen. After thinking he solved the case, he makes Lori take Leni for a ride far away while he plans this gathering of all the siblings to make Leni feel better. During the car ride, Lori and Leni have a heart to heart, but we would not know about it until the bonus chapter. When Lori brings Leni back home and Leni sees what Lincoln has done, she'd drag Lincoln out to the hall for privacy and then spill the beans about who did it. But then I decided it'll be lame for Lincoln to spend so much time investigating and then have him end up not solving it on his own, and I didn't want the story to be more than 10 chapters.**

 **At one point, I was going to make someone steal the note from Lincoln while he was sleeping, and then rig a bucket of water over Lincoln's head to fall of him when he woke up as a message that said 'HEY, BACK OF AND STOP THE INVESTIGATION' (yo, take a shot whenever I say 'investigation' in this story, cause it's said a LOT in every chapter. I probably should have taken the time to find a synonym for 'investigation' but I guess I was too lazy.) This would lead Lincoln into thinking that Luan did it, and they would get into a screaming match until Lisa would come out of nowhere and be like 'I found a hair sample at the scene of the crime, it's Leni' and Lincoln would be like :OOOOO. I decided not to do this though because it was too complicated, it would not make sense to steal the note if he already knows what it says, and it would be out of character for Leni to rig a bucket to fall on him.**

 **This story takes place over one weekend, but I originally wanted one scene where Lori drives them all to school the following Monday, and then there was going to be this hint where after the kids get out of the car Lori would drive away and I'd see how many people noticed. Turns out, Lori had been ditching school, and her driving away was supposed to be this big clue. I wish I could have done this, but there was no reason Lincoln needed to be at school for this, I didn't want to mold an entire chapter around one cool idea I had for a clue.**

 **Again, thank you sooo much for reading.**


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